LSEN Craven Week starts
LSEN Craven Week starts
The LSEN Crane Week starts in Uitenhage on Monday this week with matches on 24, 25 and 27 June 2013.
The week was founded in Potchefstroom in 1980, thanks to the enthusiasm of Herman Lemmer, an estate agent. It was first known as the Lemmer week, then the Special Schools Craven Week and now the LSEN Craven Week. LSEN, pronounced el-sen, is an acronym for Learners with Special Educational Needs.
The special educational needs include impaired eyesight, impaired hearing, academic problems and epilepsy
The first tournament was held in Potchefstroom in 1982. In 1985 the week produced its own symbol – the guineafowl. In 1989 the name was changed to the Craven Week for Special Schools. There were eight teams at the first Craven Week and teams have changed. For example Western Cape broke up into individual provinces of Western Province, Boland and South Western Districts in 2009. This year there are 14 teams taking part.
The teams taking part are Blue Bulls, Blue Bulls Extraordinary Education, Boland, Eastern Cape, Free State, Golden Lions, Golden Lions Extraordinary Education, Griffons, KwaZulu Natal, Leopards, Mpumalanga, South Western Districts, Valke, Western Province.
This year the venue will be HTS Daniël Pienaar in Uitenhage.
Anybody who has attended one of these weeks will have come away with a really good feeling. There is enthusiasm of players, staff and parents, for a start. The way the schoolmasters look after their boys speaks of dedication and love.. It is a good place to be.
At the end of the week a national team is chosen. This was first done in 1985. In 1998 the chosen team played at Craven Week. That was too big a demand and since 1999 the chosen team has played at the Academy Week, as it will do this year.
The fixtures for the first day are decided on in advance but after that they are worked out on previous results to try to get fair match-ups.
Fixtures for Day 1
Monday 24 June 2013
08.30: Boland vs Valke
08.30: South Western Districts vs Blue Bulls EE
09.50: Leopards vs Western Province
09.50: KwaZulu Natal vs Griffons
11.10: Golden Lions vs Free State
11.10: Blue Bulls vs Golden Lions EE
15.15: Eastern Cape vs Mpumalanga
NB EE = Extraordinary Education
Referees: Denis Mpiti (Eastern Province), Fernando Uithaler (Eastern Province), Mark Norris (Eastern Province), Daniel Botes (Namibia),Sindile Ngcese (Eastern Province), Schalk Rossouw (Eastern Province), Loyiso Bosman (Border)
