Players recognised at Academy Awards
The Academy hosted its 6th annual awards on Saturday, 15 December.
It was an amazing sporting year for Golden Drifters Academy, the Zandspruit-based club that wrapped up the year by rewarding its outstanding players.
The Academy hosted its 6th annual awards at the Alfresco Italian Resort in Honeydew on Saturday, 15 December, where the top players in soccer and netball walked away with awards in their respective age divisions.
One of the big achievers on this prestigious occasion was U/17 soccer player, Buti Dlamini, who stole the show by collecting the most awards, including the Footballer of the Year and the President’s Award. Buti netted an impressive 50 goals and assisted in 43 other goals scored by his teammates. His amazing stint in the league not only earned him the accolades – he also earned a promotion to Golden Drifters’ first team, which plays in the SAFA SAB league.
The founder of the club, Proud Shoko, said the following about Buti’s talent: “Buti deserved to win the awards on the day. He started playing for the club at the age of 11 and we have seen him grow over the years. He scored the most goals and he is a good player to watch. We’re excited to promote him to our SAB team next year,” he said.
Buti also thanked his coaches for nurturing his talent and his parents for allowing him to play football.
Since not all the players could scoop the big prizes, Proud said he made sure that the rest of players did not go home empty-handed. “Not everyone was capable of winning the big award; however, we made sure that the rest of players were recognised. We are proud of each and every player, but they obviously know where they went wrong and need to improve in the new year,” he explained.
He also shared the club’s plans for 2019. “The plans for the new year for our soccer and netball teams are that we plan to affiliate the netball team with the Johannesburg or Mogale City Netball Associations so that they can play in a formal league. For soccer, we have the U/15 league to defend and the challenge to win the league in the U/17 division, where we were runners-up, just a point behind the league winners,” he concluded.
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