If you nutmeg Radebe, you’re worth the investment

LUCAS RADEBE was one of the most highly-rated centrebacks in the English Premier League, but the former Leeds United skipper is happy to admit he was nutmegged by an eight-year-old this week.

Radebe took part in a training session in Gansbaai on Wednesday, as part of a grassroots football initiative by the locally-based Grootbos Foundation, the Premier League and the British Council.

The former Bafana Bafana captain, who represented South Africa 70 times, says there is definitely talent to be found in the small, seaside town.

“I’m out of breath. It takes me a long time to warm-up and to recover. It’s been a while since I played that much football, but it’s great to be involved with the kids,” Radebe said.

“It’s about having fun and enjoying football, and that’s how it’s supposed to be. At this age, the kids are supposed to enjoy it and have fun. This is the best way I can spend a day ... out with the kids.

“I saw one boy there (who was talented), he nutmegged me but I nutmegged someone else as well. I think everywhere you go there is talent, but it’s only when you give them the opportunity (that they can develop).

“I enjoy watching kids having fun and you can see the love of the sport in these kids. I can tell that a couple of them have real talent. Surely if we keep having projects like this we will have one of those guys make Gansbaai proud.”

Radebe’s kick-around with the children took place on a synthetic pitch which was funded by the Premier League and built in 2008, and he praised the organisation for building the facility.

“There is a vast difference between this pitch and the pitches I played on as a child. I played on very dusty pitches, where you have to dribble trees as well as your opponents,” he said with a laugh.

The event formed part of Premier Skills, a programme which was started by the English top-flight in 2007 and has since trained 7 500 coaches and referees in 26 countries.

Premier Skills has been active in South Africa since 2014, training “coach educators” in the hope they pass on their knowledge in their communities.

This week, four of the coach educators who joined the programme two years ago delivered a three-day course to 40 novice coaches from around the Western Cape in Gansbaai.

The event in which Radebe took part in – a mass coaching session where the new coaches put their new skills to the test with local children – was the culmination of the course.

Graham Robinson, head of international football development for Sunderland FC and the head coach of the Premier Skills programme, says the newly-trained coaches left the three-day course as fullyequipped grassroots coaches.

“We have four women who are actually netball coaches. Sporting skills are transferable, so all we are teaching them is to plan and structure a session, how a session can be made harder or easier, how you can challenge an individual in your session,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter what sporting background you’re from, Premier Skills gives people the opportunity. We have people here who may never have played football. We have people here who are just starting out in grassroots coaching.”

The coach educators who joined the programme in 2014 all completed their Safa D level coaching licenses as part of Premier Skills. Robinson says the lack of these licenses will not hinder the new trainees in any way.

“Our hope is that they will then get the hunger to become qualified and go out and do a Safa license. We have given them the skills and they will now hone the skills in their communities,” he said.

“But not only will they deliver coaching sessions to children, they will deliver to other coaches as well and show other coaches what they have learned.”

Radebe adds that the programme is “exactly” what’s needed to jumpstart South African football’s muchmaligned development structures. “This is what is missing (from South Africa football development). Exactly this. The structures and the administration (is what is missing), because it doesn’t only start with football and playing,” he said.

“It starts with the administrators and the management putting structures in place where we can bring up youngsters and develop our own coaches. Projects like this where we have coaches coaching other coaches are great. This is where we have to invest.”