A talented young Manenberg girl has big dreams of representing South Africa as a footballer on the global stage.

Vaughan Jackson (15) recently secured a spot on the u-15 girls’ provincial soccer team.

The Grade 7 learner at Christel House South Africa (CHSA) plays midfielder for both the Salvo Football Club and her school’s football team.

Daily challenges

Salvo FC, a prominent community-based amateur club in Manenberg, is a well-known contender in the Manenberg Local Football Association and regularly participates in major regional knockout tournaments such as the South African Football Association’s (Safa) Cape Town Coca-Cola Cup.

CHSA is a non-profit, no-fee school based in Ottery that provides holistic, character-based education to children from disadvantaged communities.

Vaughan’s football journey has been moulded by daily community challenges such as gangsterism and violence, which still pose great risks for youth, school spokesperson Megan Losper said.

“When I want to play outside, my mom always says I must stay inside because of the gang-related shootings. Just last week an innocent man was shot dead.”

Her coach and school head of sport and physical education Rosco Hendricks was thrilled to see her progress and saw a bright future for the young footballer.

“Everybody at Christel House is extremely proud of Vaughan, and we can’t wait to see her light up the National Winter Games.”

Balancing sport and school

The 2026 Winter National School Sport Championships are taking place in East London (kuGompo City) from July 10 to July 14. The event will feature nearly 3,000 young athletes, coaches, and officials from across South Africa competing in sporting codes including soccer, rugby, volleyball, and hockey.

Jackson prides herself on balancing her training and schoolwork commitments and attributes her sporting success to a strong family foundation.

She said every training session, every match and every school day, for her, is a step towards a future she is working hard to realise and to provide an example for other young people in the community she comes from.

The strong family foundation is also embodied in her mother, Melissa Jackson, who was studying towards a social work degree at the University of Cape Town while actively contributing to her community.

Vaughan also dreams of being both a doctor and a world-class football player some day.

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