A local young man, Peace Khosa from Nkowankowa township can attest to this. Khosa started a soccer club at age 14 alone with only two divisions, his club is known as Nkowankowa Barcelona FC and currently has four divisions, which is the under 12/U14/U17 and the senior team.Khosa at age 15 lost his only parent, his mother and he had to become an instant parent to his brother and also take care of the team with no job as he was still a student himself.
He said his mother’s passing taught him to persevere and to keep on believing on his dream.
In the beginning he faced financial challenges, especially with buying the soccer boots and kit for his players. ” I faced a lot of challenges with transport to the games and my players had to pay for their own kit, boots and for the transport, eventually I got help from local businessmen, who helped where they could,” he said. In 2007 his under 17 team started playing in the Local Football Association (LFA), from then they played in the Castle league for three seasons and their fortunes changed last year where Nkowankowa Barca became Limpopo champions in the league and advanced to the ABC Motsepe league also known as Vodacom league and it is currently in position 7.
Khosa has produced a lot of soccer stars from his neighbourhood. Most of his players went to play in the country’s best soccer academies: Tlangelani Shipalana played for Orlando Pirates Academy,one of his player Papi Lemoa now plays in France, Kulani Mhelembe, Pretty Khumalo and Nyiko Nkwinika are currently with Wits soccer academy, Fumani Ntlemo is with Stars of Africa at Farouk Khan’s academy. His assistant coach is former soccer star, Themba Khosa who use to play for Nkowankowa Barcelona FC before he suffered from an injury which forced him to quit soccer.
Khosa appreciates the efforts of his boys and the dedication they are putting even when it is difficult, he said his dream and wish for his boys is that they may succeed professionally in the big leagues and can be able to support their families through soccer.
He currently has no help financially and he depends on the prize money he received when his team won the league. Khosa said he uses the money to transport the team to games.”I am unable to pay my boys for their efforts which is difficult to most of the players as most of them are unemployed,” he said. He urges local business people to support his team with soccer boots, kit,camp, transport and in any way they can help. For more information contact Khosa on 083 477 9018.
