LSEN Week starts
This year the tournament will be held at the Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) in Pretoria.
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.
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.
There is this shared sense of comradery amongst the different teams. It is really a good place to be.
Last year the hosts Boland came up on top when their secured a 25-12 victory over neighbours Western Province at HTS Drostdy in Worcester.
The teams taking part in this year's LSEN week are Pumas, Free State, Leopards, Griffons, Eastern Cape, Golden Lions Extraordinary Education, KZN, Blue Bulls Extraordinary Education, Valke, Golden Lions, SWD, Western Province, Boland, and Blue Bulls.
At the end of the week a national team is chosen, who will participate in the Academy week, named SA LSEN Under-18.
T
he SA LSEN team will open their Academy Week campaign against Blue Valke on Day one in Durban.
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 one:
Monday, June 27:
08.30: Pumas v Free State
08.30 : Leopards v Griffons
09.50 : Eastern Cape v Golden Lions EE
09.50: KZN v Blue Bulls EE
11.10: Valke v Golden Lions
12.30 : SWD v Western Province
15.00 : Boland v Blue Bulls
*NB EE = Extraordinary Education
