He is local and his soccer talents know no bounds . . .
Local teenage sporting enthusiast, Jack Hilton (13), a learner from Generation School in Hermanus signed a player contract with Young Bafana Soccer Academy in Somerset West.
The academy, which has strong ties with clubs in Germany, Switzerland and France, provides excellent training from qualified coaches and places a strong emphasis on education and all round development of its players.
Young Bafana Soccer Academy plays in the Two Oceans High Performance League alongside teams from Ubuntu, Cape Town City, Stellenbosh FC, Hout Bay and five other really strong clubs.
“I couldn’t be more excited or prouder about playing for Young Bafana,” said Jack, who draws inspiration from another local, world bodyboarding champ Tristan Roberts. “Tristan had a dream and he worked hard every day to reach it. My dream is to be a professional footballer and I work hard every day to realise that dream.”
As a contracted player at Young Bafana Jack will receive excellent training at a first-class facility and be well exposed to, and prepared for, a career as a professional goalkeeper.
Last year Young Bafana sent two players to Clermont Foot (French Ligue 1) and currently have an academy player being assessed at Manchester City.
Jack, who also enjoys surfing, bodyboarding, snorkelling, skating, mountain biking and motocross, started playing soccer socially as a goalkeeper with Hermanus Hotspurs in June 2021. “Usually, no-one wants to be keeper, but from day 1 that was the only position Jack wanted to play,” says head coach Dave Sale.
“His improvement was remarkable and I suggested he move to a more structured club that played in a league”.
In April 2022 Jack joined De Beers AFC and was soon selected as team captain of his team. Playing 20 league games with 11 clean sheets, Jack conceded the fewest goals during the 2023 league season; the lowest number of conceded goals in his entire club and received the Golden Glove Award for the best keeper across all age groups at De Beers AFC.
Another highlight of 2023 was being selected for the u-13 Northern District Schools Football Touring team that were runners up at the South African Schools Combined Football Associations Festival (SASCFA) held in Durban.
Other memorable moments for Jack include receiving sponsored gloves from Unozinti, watching professional games locally and abroad and meeting Banyana Banyana goalkeeping captain before the team left for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand last year.