Spreading talent search must be applauded
The Nedbank Cup’s Ke Yona Team concept should be applauded. This initiative which sees four top-notch coaches going around the country scouting for new talent adds great value to the game. The search culminates in an 18-man team who will play against the Nedbank Cup winners.
Listening to stories of how some of these players woke up at 4am to go for the try-outs only to get a chance later in the afternoon after waiting in long queues all day is just pure bliss. Some have had to ask for transport money from strangers to get to the trials because they have this burning ambition to fulfill their childhood dreams of playing professionally.
I attended the unveiling of the final 18 players in Sandton on Thursday and seeing the joy these youngsters displayed as their names were announced. Oh, just a side note: the event was recorded for a “delayed live” broadcast on SABC 1. I am told it will be shown on TV next weekend. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. After the match against holders SuperSport United in early September they will then link up with the various Absa Premiership teams for a month.
The programme has already yielded some positive outcomes as Aubrey Modiba, who was discovered through this initiative a few years ago, now plays professionally with SuperSport United. There are a few who are with NFD teams as well. I also heard that @SbongsKaDonga some teams are looking to take more than the one player which they are allocated as they seek to strengthen their MDC teams. This is good news indeed.
It is all good and well but as you, dear reader, may know by now, I am a bit of an armchair critic and I always look at things from all angles.
For the programme to have produced just one player who plays in the top flight means there is room for improvement. One of the things I found to be a little inconvenient was the timing of the trials.
In September the coaches are usually preoccupied as the league has just started. I don’t think the young triallists get enough time to be looked at by the coaches. When the league has just started the team is either doing well or badly and the coach’s focus is on either to ensure the good run continues or the bad ends.
So some of these boys get shoved into the MultiChoice Diski Challenge teams where a junior coach gives them the trial and they never really get a good look at. This could be easily rectified though. The players could be sent on trial in June as the teams start their pre-season training or during the summer break in January. This would ensure they get a better chance of being seen by the senior team coach.
Another thing I would change is the venues for these trials. Maybe it is because I was born in a rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, but I feel taking these trials to the big cities defeats the purpose for me. I feel that players in areas in and around Johannesburg have a better chance of getting their talents noticed by professional teams while a guy in Tswinga village in Limpopo has little chance of that. If these trials could be taken to places like Venda and Tsolo in the Eastern Cape I believe it would give those who have very little resources a chance as well.