A former youth player from the Ubuntu Academy in Cape Town has been drafted by MLS club Houston Dynamo.
22-year-old defender Calem Tommy was picked up in the second round of the draft by Houston on Thursday, having spent the last five and a half years in the USA, first at boarding school Northwood College in Lake Placid, before attending North Carolina State University.
Tommy spent six years at Ubuntu and is one of over 20 footballers from the academy to go to the USA on scholarships, including Vusumzi Plamana and Junior Nare, who were also at NC State. He is the first to be drafted into the MLS.
Now, Tommy is set to be the latest professional to have started at Ubuntu, joining players like the late Luke Fleurs, Jesse Donn, Antonio Van Wyk, Munashe Garananga, Prince Amponsah, Kyle Jurgens, Siviwe Magidigidi, Losika Ratshukudu, amongst others.
He will join Bongokuhle Hlongwane (Minnesota United), Olwethu Makhanya (Philadelphia Union) and recently signed Mbokezeli Mbokazi (Chicago Fire) in America’s top league. Adam Pearlman (FC Toronto) and Geni Kanyane (Chicago Fire) are other players with South African roots in the MLS.
Tsiki Ntsabeleng (FC Dallas ) and Cassius Mailula (FC Toronto) are currently out on loan at Mamelodi Sundowns and FC Kortrijk, respectively.
Ubuntu’s founder, Casey Prince, was interviewed by Moritz Kossmann in edition 235 of iDiski Times.
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