Mafikeng adopts Obama's team

The strains of "The Star Spangled Banner" were heard at Redibone Middle School in Mafikeng, North West province on Friday as South Africa's "My 2010 School Adventure" campaign arrived at the school.

The campaign, which aims to promote both education and participation in football, has seen schools in all nine of the country's provinces "adopting" teams participating in the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup.

Along with the rest of North West province, Redibone Middle School - whose under 14 boys and girls teams won the North West region's Confederations Cup schools tournament, which also part of the campaign - have adopted North American Concacaf champions the United States.

"I am very excited about South Africa hosting the Fifa Confederations Cup and the 2010 Fifa World Cup, as it is such a world-spanning tournament and the first time the African continent is hosting such an event," US Consul General Andrew Passen said as he addressed 1 000 pupils at the school on Friday.

"You are not only a school of champions," Passen told the children. "You are in fact a school of double champions. I really hope I get to watch my province become the national champions," Passen added, referring to the upcoming national finals of the schools tournament, which will see the four finalists from each province battle it out for the title of national champions in May.

"I felt so good when we won, but we are now training very hard for the national finals," said Reginah Olehile, a member of the under-14 girls team.

"It is great to have won, because I want the opportunity to play as much football as I can, I want to play professionally, I want to play for Bafana", said Omphile Lemphane, a forward for the under-14 boys team.

A total of 8 349 schools across South Africa are participating in My 2010 School Adventure, which also sees pupils learning more about the culture, football, history and language of Confederations Cup contenders Spain, Italy, Brazil, Iraq, New Zealand, Egypt and South Africa.

"I am learning so much about America, and now I want to go there myself," Lemphane said. "I want to meet Barack Obama."

The programme is a partnership between the Department of Education, the Department of Sport and Recreation, the 2010 Fifa World Cup Local Organising Committee, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

2010 World Cup: 500 days to go

South Africa's preparations for the 500-day countdown to the opening of the 2010 Fifa World Cup are well under way, with a wide range of activities taking place across the country, and a main event scheduled for the Mangaung Outdoor Sports Centre in Bloemfontein on Monday.

"Monday next week will be exactly 500 days to go to the world's biggest sporting spectacle, watched by a cumulative audience of more than 26-billion spectators worldwide, and South Africa's preparations are in overdrive," the 2010 Local Organising Committee said in a statement this week.

Media conference

A media conference will be held in Johannesburg, and will be attended by Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke, LOC chairman Irvin Khoza and LOC chief executive Danny Jordaan.

They will talk about the achievements made since South Africa was awarded the right to host the event five years ago, as well as the remaining milestones leading up to the tournament's kick-off on 11 June 2010 at the Soccer City Stadium to the south of Johannesburg.

Host city posters

The mayors from all nine host cities, as well as Provincial and Local Government Minister Sicelo Shiceka, will be at the sports centre in Bloemfontein, where they will officially unveil their respective host city posters.

To kick-off the day's activities, delegates from the Italian Embassy, together with 2010 ambassadors Mark Fish and Philemon Masinga, will visit two schools in the area as part of the 2010 "Adopt-a-Nation" schools campaign, which will be followed by a mini schools football tournament.

Street parade

Ahead of the countdown, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality will mark the day by holding a street parade and a fun walk in the streets of KwaThema, Tsakane and Duduza, before culminating in a massive celebration at the KwaThema Stadium this Sunday.

The event is expected to several senior officials, including Gauteng provincial sports minister Barbara Creecy and Ekurhuleni executive mayor Ntombi Mekgwe, as well as local councillors, community leaders, soccer veterans and members of the public in general.