Coaching badges gives James licence to educate the public
Former Moroka Swallows leftback James Mayinga (right) says ex-players should strive to do more than coaching.
Mayinga has a Uefa D licence and plans to obtain his C licence soon. Yet even though he is doing coaching qualification badges, Mayinga says he has no intention of managing a club.
“We can’t all be coaches, not all good players can be coaches. I spent 13 years playing, I have dealt with the stress of football for 13 years as a player, And I don’t want to stress about football as a coach. I don’t want to be a coach, as players we need to do something different,” said Mayinga.
When asked why he is studying towards a C licence if he has no intentions of coaching Mayinga said: “You need to up your game, if you speak to the public you need to educate. How will you educate if you are not informative. That is why you need to up your game.
“Some people have not played football and need you to educate them. When you speak of the role of a leftback in modern football, you need to be informative. How will you do that if you don’t educate yourself.”
The former Mamelodi Sundowns star works as a panelist on SuperSport’s National First Division show. Mayinga says this takes up most of his time and he hasn’t made time to focus any other thing outside of football.
The 40-year-old is involved in some aspects of producing the show and pre-planning of content for each show. The Polokwane-born Mayinga believes the National First Division has played its part in feeding the Absa Premiership. Mayinga enjoys the responsibility that comes with his job in creating the content of the show having to travel to different provinces to watch games and finding talking point that are sometimes outside of the game.
Mayinga gave his opinion on what contributed to the success and downfall of Moroka Swallows. Having played while the team was winning and during its crisis years, he is well-placed to comment on this.
“I think the way Swallows was run, it was a one-man show. Swallows didn’t do a good job at bringing youngsters into the first team from their development structures. They signed the tried-andtested players. Their development players at the time are doing well right now, players like Sage Ste- phens and Ramahlwe Mphahlele who are doing well right now for Chiefs and Cape Town City. If the integration of these players was good Swallows would still be around.”
The Dube Birds star has a sport management diploma and warns against fearing the unknown leading up to the latter years of a footballer’s career. Mayinga stressed the importance of retiring while the player is still wanted and at the right age.
“When I signed for Sundowns I was 33 at the time and I knew I would retire soon. Signing for Sundowns I was aware that would be my biggest transfer, so that is when I started saving and paying things off and getting my retirement ready. It wasn’t a lot of money but it was enough to survive and take care of things.”