Kathorus football coaches invited to a workshop

Kathorus coaches and Local Football Associations (LFA) have partnered with the South African Football Coaches Association (SAFCA) to host a workshop for local coaches.

Guest speakers include former Witbank Black Aces player John Bull Sibeko from the Netherlands Football Association and former Banyana Banyana coach Joseph Skheshi.

The workshop will be held at Katlehong Old Age Home on February 12.

The idea to invite SAFCA was piloted by Thando Ngobese, head coach of Siluma 7 FC in 2022, with support from Eden Park LFA and KALFA. They already held at least three workshops at Katlehong Old Age Home.

Ngobese said it is vital for coaches to attend the workshop because there is much to gain for coaches and it is a good course for SA football.

He said most talented players from the township struggle to maintain their performance because of missing elements in their development phase.

“As coaches, we are driven by the passion to develop soccer players, and we start developing them from as early as seven years. But the challenge is that by the time they grow up and join football academies and other leagues like ABC Motsepe, most of those players drop out.

“They are supposed to knock on the Premier Soccer League doors or international leagues. What challenges are they facing? The coaches on the ground need to question whether we have provided them with the right tools to face those challenges,” said Ngobese.

He said that based on their research they found that the challenge is that they are not well-educated about the sport.

“Not to say we do not know football, we do, but there are many aspects that we still need to learn about.

“Most of us are involved in football because of the love and we do what we think is right. Some coaches adopt the international style of playing, only to find that our South African players are not built like them. In the end, we have players that are not fully expressive because they are programmed to what is done internationally, as early as seven years old.”

Ngobese said coaches must focus on themselves and understand who they are and the children they are coaching.

“For example, we do not have tall players like other countries so we cannot instruct our South African players to play high balls, our players are short and they are skilful,” he said.

“What we should be doing is maximising what they have. When you see that this one is a dribbling wizard, make sure that when you design his training, design exercises that will maximise his skill.”

He said SAFCA has partnered with CATHSSETA to offer coaches an NQF-level course.

The chairperson of Kathorus Masters Legends and finance officer of Katlehong Local Football Association, Josiah Cindi (72), said Ngobese has been trying to bring this essential workshop closer to home.

He urged all coaches to attend the workshop and affiliate with SAFCA so that the organisation can assist them with challenges that to aligned them.

Cindi said the problem with local coaches is that they are spoiled. As a result, they do not make effort to improve themselves.

He said many coaches demand stipends even when they are offered free opportunities to improve and develop themselves.

“Many coaches may not be able to run clubs in the future because SAFA’s working toward making a coaching license a requirement. No one must be left behind, we all have to get on this train before it moves,” he concluded.

Workshop details

Venue: Katlehong Old Age Home at Siluma View, Katlehong

Date: February 19

Time: 9:30 for 10:00