Coaches I’ve worked with: This man isn’t just a good coach

While we are still enjoying continental football, it is important to continue shining the spotlight on the coaches who have made a mark in South African football. We have to continue celebrating and acknowledging them while they are still alive. It is also important to check how are we utilising our own, as we can see other countries are investing and reaping the rewards of investing in their own coaches. As much as the same can’t really be said about us, it was good to see some coaches attending the CAF A Licence course a couple of weeks ago. Some of the household names in the coaching fraternity were there and that shows how humble these guys are. Despite all their achievements, they continue to learn and empower themselves because you are never too old or experienced to learn. That’s exactly what we want to see and that will go a long way in ensuring that we have qualified coaches in our football. Their success is our success. One of the coaches who attended that course was Gavin Hunt. This is someone who has won the league title four times, coupled with several trophies as well as individual awards at all the different teams he’s coached. When you look at Gavin, from where he started up to where he is today, his journey has been unbelievable. He hasn’t had it easy at all and, like it is said, if it was easy, everyone would do it. Coaches like Gavin are people we need to boost our development and get our football back where it belongs. Winning the league title is a journey, unlike a sprint of winning a cup competition. He’s won it three times back-toback with SuperSport United and then once with unfancied and now-defunct Bidvest Wits. You look at the players he has produced and how they went on to become elite players. Gavin has groomed a lot of young players who have gone on to become top players because he is never scared to give youngsters a chance and a platform. These are the kinds of coaches we need to applaud and recognise. Who would’ve thought that Gavin would stay in Venda and do so well with Black Leopards, making them one of the most feared teams in the league? He didn’t have the best squad in the league but turned those players into a very strong team. In Gavin, we have someone who tells it like it is and I regard myself as fortunate to be interacting with coach Gavin. I really appreciate the moments and everything we’ve shared over the years. Believe it or not, even today whenever we meet in football corridors, everything remains the same between us and we continue to have a great relationship. His name is one of those we can’t afford to miss out whenever we talk about coaches who have made a huge impact in our football. It is so unfortunate that the structures of our football sometimes overlook the local talent. Given a chance, Gavin would have been one of the best Bafana coaches and we would have benefited a lot from him. Unfortunately, South African football doesn’t always do things the right way and that’s why we continue to lose or miss out on local talent and on growing our football. This man isn’t just a good coach but was one of the best right backs we’ve ever produced. I played against him when he was still at Hellenic FC, which was always a tough team to play against. He used to get instructions from his coaches but now he is the one issuing out those instructions to his players. That man knows everything there is to know about our football and he is one of the coaches I believe is being underutilised in the country. This man has turned ‘no-name’ players into some of the most popular figures in our game. That’s not easy at all because some coaches need top players to achieve success.