Bulldogs show resilience at Youth Classic basketball tournament

Ocean View’s Bulldogs and Montana Vikings did Cape Town proud at this year’s U19 African Grassroot Hoops Youth Classic.

The teams represented the Mother City in the boys’ and girls’ divisions, respectively, at the fifth annual tournament, held at the Cape Town German School in Tamboerskloof over the weekend.

In only their first appearance at the tournament, the Bulldogs surprised friend and foe, securing a spot in the semi-finals against  Observatory-based  Eagles Basketball Club, whom they beat 51-45 to advance to the finals against Soweto Academy.

Point guard Decklin Liebenberg was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP) following a solid performance overall.

This year’s two-day extravaganza featured Cape sides and entries from other provinces.

The tournament grew from 12 teams in 2023 to 18 teams and 216 players taking part in last year’s edition.

Ultimately, Soweto’s boys’ and girls’ sides claimed bragging rights in the 2025 championship finals, beating their Cape rivals 63-54 and 33-27 in the boys' and girls' divisions, respectively.

In an epic north versus south battle, the Soweto boys took an early lead and stayed 10 points ahead of the Bulldogs for most of the match, seemingly quicker on the rebound, tighter on defence and not afraid to play long passes.

In true Bulldog fashion, the local lads never gave up, giving it their all till the final buzzer. They launched attacks of their own, closing the gap to two points early in the match and threatening to equalise if not surpass their opponents.

Established in 2020, Bulldogs joined the Cape Town Basketball Association (CTBA) a year later, in 2021, and won promotion to the Association’s Super League in only their second year as a CTBA member. 

They are currently third on the log and, based on their performance at the weekend, can be considered serious contenders for league honours.

Although understandably disappointed, the Bulldogs have every reason to believe that they can go one better, but that’s for another day, another battle, said coach Clint Edwards, looking to regroup the squad once they’ve licked their wounds.

“Soweto is a brilliant team, but we really gave them a game,” said Mr Edwards, the first to congratulate his opponents.

“We made a couple of mistakes and couldn't recover from that," he said. 

“Our aim is to make club champs this year,” said Mr Edwards, “but we’re not just focused on developing ball skills, we have anti-drug, men-in-our-society and other programmes. It's all about life skills.”

As far as ball skills are concerned, there’s certainly no shortage in Ocean View, with a number of top-class volleyball, football and even basketball players hailing from the area.

However, said Mr Edwards, certain obstacles prevent players from realising their full potential.

“At the moment, it's transport to games, we are also struggling to get our home court for league matches.

“For some reason,” he said, “the City doesn't reply to our emails when we try to book the multi-purpose centre. So we end up spending R3 000 a weekend on taxis,” he said.

Despite the challenges, he remains steadfast in his resolution to give youngsters an opportunity to play ball.

“Basketball was always popular in Ocean View, but no one took the initiative to start a club. I took the opportunity to get the kids off the streets and start a club. Not all kids are good at soccer, and I believe we should have many options in different sporting codes,” he said.

Fellow coach Nceba Dubula agrees, saying: “I believe in every community there is someone who plays or has played some level of basketball, and Ocean View had a few young and older people who loved the game.

Mr Dubula said he’s always been a friend of the team but officially joined the Bulldogs in 2024 as a player and coach. 

”We are a family and our identity is rooted in brotherhood and taking care of each other,” he said.

As far as the weekend’s action is concerned, Mr Dubula said the squad gave a good account of themselves.  

“They’ve worked well together and showed great camaraderie,” he said. “They were playing for more than just themselves — they were playing for their city.”

“Some of these boys have grown up right in front of my eyes, others joined us more recently as they’ve seen the team play and compete in different competitions,” Mr Dubula said.

“Our boys played their hearts out, and I look at this as a win, considering this was our first appearance in this tournament,” he added.

“It would have been a Cinderella story had we won the entire tournament. The early rounds were no walk in the park either, but we won all our matches,” Mr Dubula said.

“Basketball is a great tool to learn about conflict resolution and other life skills. And we get a chance to learn and walk through life’s challenges with these young people,” he noted.

“Currently, we have one senior men’s and one women’s team, but we are hoping to have juniors to represent the club at all the different age groups in the league,” he added.

Training sessions are held on Tuesday and Thursday, from 5pm to 7pm, at the Ocean View multi-purpose centre. Call 083 483 7883 or 079 374 3113 for more information.