Safa Ehlanzeni trains 40 soccer coaches at Mbombela Stadium
Forty local soccer coaches attended this eight-day course, and on the last day, some of the learners they train, attended too.
The South African Football Association (Safa) Ehlanzeni hosted an informative successful D Licence Coaching Course from September 2 to 9.
Forty local soccer coaches attended this week-long programme at Mbombela Stadium, funded by the Dr Thulani Ngwenya Foundation.
They each received a certificate and are now qualified to train professional teams.
The newly appointed Safa Ehlanzeni youth development co-ordinator, Sibusiso Mhlanga, and his superior, Phelelani Zulu, are the field organisers of the initiative, making sure that everything goes well. The chairperson of the foundation and the Safa chief medical officer, Thulani Ngwenya from KaNyamazane, said the team decided to start with the coaches, because to develop an athlete, they need to develop the trainer.
“We want to give back to the community and to assist in the development of sports. We started with football, because I am predominantly into soccer, but we are going to cover all other sporting codes. Soon we will be focusing on school football and next year we are doing school leagues.”
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Ngwenya said the event went well, judging by the turnout of coaches who are now licensed.
“All the coaches started here, and are now great, just like Pitso ‘Jingles’ Mosimane. “We believe that we will produce other skillful coaches in the country from this programme.”
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On the last day, some of the learners these coaches train, attended the course, too.
Kaizer Sibanyoni, the president of Safa Ehlanzeni, said looking at the outcome, they have achieved their goal. “We prepared for this programme for three months and we are glad to see that everything went well.”
Safa Ehlanzeni and the Dr Thulani Ngwenya Foundation currently have other initiatives in the pipeline.
