Klopp surprised me!
Kurt Buckerfield: Thanks for taking the time to chat to us, Xolela. Please start off by telling us about yourself and your role at Hout Bay United.
Xolela Ndude:
My first step was playing for Hellenic. I lived in Hout Bay while playing for Hellenic in Milnerton and then when Hellenic sold their franchise, I came back and played for Hout Bay. At that point, they were still in the SAB (League) and then we got promoted to the (ABC) Motsepe League. In our second season in the ABC, one of the coaches left and the owner of the club, Jeremy, asked me to take over the team at some point. It was still January at the time. I think at that point I grew up, I wanted to share what I learnt from playing outside of Hout Bay. From there, I saw my methods work… ha, ha! Obviously, it was quite a difficult situation for me to be in because I was coaching my mates.
KB: You were quite young at the time, right?
XN:
I was only 23 at the time when I got the opportunity. I became the youngest coach in the ABC, and I think we finished around fifth, which was good for me in my first season!
KB: Where did you get the confidence to coach, especially when it comes to senior football?
XN:
I’ve always believed in my abilities from a young age, and when I look back now, surrounding my friends, surrounding my teammates, at school, I always wanted to be pushing. I always wanted to know more, but without making other people feel less than. But one of the interesting things where I found the strength (to coach), there was a book written by Richard Branson, and I can’t remember the title of it, but there’s a chapter in it that says: ‘Just do it’. For some reason, I read that chapter, and that chapter stayed in my head. So, when the opportunity arose, that chapter just played in my head. From there, I knew I had to have broader shoulders!
KB: Did you ever think, when you first started coaching, that you would one day get to see inside a Liverpool training session? You got to see them train and spend time with Jurgen Klopp. Tell us how this came about.
XN:
Mark Kosicke, who is one of the sponsors of the club (HBUFC), is Klopp’s agent and he happens to be my agent as well now.
KB: Amazing, wow… XN:
He was here in January on holiday and we – me and Jeremy – went to play Fives at Clifton and after that we went out for drinks, and we then asked, you know, trying our luck, and he said he’d organise the trip! It would have happened much earlier, but at the time I was still busy with my season, so we said we’d do it this time, which was good for everyone, and it was organised. I had quite a difficult time obtaining my UK visa, but in the end, I got it. Thank you to a few people who pulled strings and thank you to HBUFC for helping me through the whole process. And again, Mark facilitated the whole opportunity and I cannot have enough words to thank him. I’ve always watched football and lived football as a young boy from an informal settlement. Everyone watches football and dreams of being in the Premier League, either playing or coaching. For me, getting the chance to meet Klopp at Liverpool… it was just unbelievable.
KB: We can imagine! XN:
Just the trip going into Liverpool’s training centre, Melwood, you just… don’t know if you are yourself or if you’re dreaming. Even just entering the building was shocking. It shows it is a small world, but you just must meet the right people and apply yourself.
KB: What is going through your mind when you’re kitting up? You’re at Liverpool, one of the biggest clubs in the world. And you’re with Klopp, one of the biggest managers in the world, and you’re around all these top, top players.
XN:
You get there, they throw you a big bag of everything, of the attire, and you get told you’re joining the ses
How many of us get to see inside a training session at one of the biggest clubs in the world? How many of us get to spend a day learning from one of football’s greatest managers? Well, Hout Bay United Football Community’s Xolela Ndude has lived that dream! The Cape Town-based club’s U18 head coach and senior team’s assistant manager recently travelled abroad to see how Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp work behind the scenes, and he sat down with Soccer Laduma specialist journalist Kurt Buckerfield to detail his jaw-dropping experience.
sion. I was still processing being in the building, being in the office and then I’m told I’m joining the session, so I’m like, ‘Wow, okay!’ So, from that point, I was thinking about how to apply myself in this situation because I am going to try and learn from the session, but at the same time I’m seeing Mohamed Salah, (Virgil) van Dijk, (Harvey) Elliott, (Alexis) Mac Allister, just to name a few – I’m surrounded by these players. And you know, when you do your pre-training talk, and you huddle around and I’m looking at their faces. And you can see them asking, ‘Okay, who is this?’ but they were very friendly guys. They come around and shake hands and ask questions. So, it was a very interesting situation, but at the same time I was trying to be 50% a student and 50% a young boy who is living a dream.
KB: And how did Klopp interact with the players?
XN:
It was very surprising, in the sense that he is like a dad. He is like a family man. You know how you see him in interviews, he is exactly like that. He is a normal person. He treats everyone very cautiously, he understands that people go through daily situations, and he tries to inspire them and motivate them to perform at their maximum, and guys respond to that very well. Even his coaching team, they have the same character he has. Everyone, from the receptionist to the groundsmen, is very polite, very welcoming. And the character that Jurgen has, it’s something I want to have working in that world. Because, before, I would think he would be bossy behind closed doors, but he is totally the opposite. He greets you, he welcomes you, he makes sure everyone is right, from the security man at the gate to last person. One rule I actually think he introduced at Liverpool is everyone eats at the same canteen. There are no double standards. Everyone is in the same family.
KB: Oh, so you mean everyone who works at the club eats in the same area and not just the players?
XN: Yes, everyone eats in the same area!
KB: It’s those little things you can take with you wherever you go as a coach. It’s those principles and values that are so invaluable.
XN: What I like about it is, the good football that you play, it is the groundsmen that actually do the work. On the pitches that you train, you want them to be perfect and you want your stadium to be perfect, so why not appreciate the people that make it work? So, it was very interesting seeing the ways he (Klopp) keeps Liverpool together, and everyone grounded and working hard. Everyone having the same humility.
KB: You said you got chat to some of the players too!
XN:
Van Dijk… on TV he looks like a big unit, and he is a big unit, but maybe not as big as the TV illustrates him to be! I also met Mac Allister, who looks maybe a bit shorter on TV, but he isn’t! And Mo Salah, just as he was finished with his recovery session because, remember, they had played on the Sunday, and they’re just top human beings. Yes, they’re players, but the most important thing is their humility.
KB: You now share an agent with Klopp and that’s got to mean you’ve got some big ambitions yourself…
XN: My ambition is to coach in Europe at a top side. I really want to learn from the best. I always want to dream of the next possible level. It might seem impossible for me now, but dreaming is what motivates me more and wanting to change my situation, and inspiring the young kids of Hout Bay, and to show them it is possible to get somewhere in life with the right mindset. And again, it might all sound nice, but how do we get there? Sometimes it’s about being nice to people. You never know who you’re meeting. But just to come back to your point of what success looks like… is seeing myself in Europe. Seeing myself in a technical team at a top club in Europe. And, of course, I know there are plans and actions I need to partake in to build myself up a bit, and to be competent enough should that situation arise because I also believe when preparation meets opportunity, you should be ready for that moment. And I’d love to achieve promotion with HBUFC as well. They’ve helped me a lot along the way, and, for me, if I wanted to leave Hout Bay, it would only be for Europe.
KB: Thanks, X! We appreciate your time.
XN: Thanks, Kurt. ❐