WOMEN’S
FOOTBALL
ON THE RISE!
VARSITY SPORTS SUCCESS FOR UWC WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
BY JOSHUA HENDRICKS
U
WC WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
is on the rise. A strong, resilient team has emerged from participating in the Varsity Football Cup, as can be seen in the team’s improvement from sixth to third position on the HollywoodBets Super League table and victory in the Varsity Cup in 2021 after four consecutive years as losing finalists. The team beat Tuks 4–3 on penalties on Tuks’s home ground. COACH THINASONKE MBULI says, “We
started the season very well. What worked for us was that the majority of the players that were playing in Varsity Football were playing in the national league too. We didn’t have two different teams but used the same
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BLUE AND GOLD ISSUE 8 2022
players. Those HollywoodBets games acted as preparation in the build-up to the Varsity Cup.” However, playing back-to-back games in three different competitions can take its toll on the body and injuries were one of their biggest challenges. The coach says huge credit is due to the medical team who ensured that the players were in peak condition leading up to the final. DESCRIBING THE STRATEGY adopted for
the HollywoodBets Super League campaign, Mbuli says: “We sat down as a team and set our own goals. One of those goals was to do better than last season and another was to win the Varsity Football Cup. We tried so many times. We had the motivation and it pushed us to improve our
position. The moment we won’t forget was when we were welcomed by Prof Pretorius, Prof Dube, Mr Gagayi and the UWC students at the airport. That was something that had never happened. It was a good morale booster after winning the Varsity Football Cup.”
The players now know the winning feeling and we simply have to defend our title. THINASONKE MBULI
