Coaches I’ve worked with: We don’t have answers

I’ve been covering coaches who have played a significant role in my life, career and South African football at large in this space and today is no different. Some I have worked with, while others coached me, depending on their different generations. I want us to look at the products we have in the country and this is based on the talent that we have, yet we are found wanting in certain areas of the game. This week, I bring you Serame Letsoaka. I believe a lot of people don’t really know the capacity that this man has. From Qwa-Qwa Stars to being a teacher, a coach and now a CAF instructor says a lot about the man. Just like Morena Ramoreboli, he left our shores in search of greener pastures just like Pitso Mosimane and others, yet our football is suffering and lacking. Surely something is not right and I mentioned this last week. Serame is a well-educated individual and a former opponent and colleague whose expertise should be utilised by his country of birth. This man has impacted the change in me because Bra Conti Kubheka planted a seed, like I have mentioned before, and Serame was one of those who held my hand in this coaching profession. He made me fall in love with it and I am grateful to coach Serame for all his input and contribution towards my coaching education. Believe it or not, I know all that I know about coaching because this man was involved in my coaching journey and made me understand the difference between being a footballer and a coach. How many people like me, if only given a chance, can produce the goods? As much as I am also a coach instructor, something I never thought I would be doing one day, coach Serame played a huge role in my career. I believe there is a group of former players that he’s lecturing in the CAF A Licence course in Botswana and this just goes to show that we do have people with the right qualifications to take us to the next level. We have EPL teams bringing their development coaches here to educate us on development training, for instance, but can we do the same to them? Why is there no crash course for foreign coaches when they come into our country, so that we ensure they understand our basics? Imagine if every foreign player had to have a certain number of national team caps to play in our country. That’s what Europe is doing and it is working, so why not us? We have people who can solve our problems and that is why I have been talking about coaches in this column for so long. Can those in the driving seat do the right thing? I believe coach Serame can change our football, having gone through the ranks both as a player and a coach. Imagine him and Walter Steenbok driving development programmes and overseeing our football. Why are these guys neglected? Do you realise that other countries are benefitting from our own talent that we’ve neglected and we are still neglecting those who are in the country. Something is really wrong with the way we do things. We don’t seem to have answers or solutions to our problems.