You need to manage that

Dan Malesela – Former Chippa coach

“Obviously, there’s the financial part, which is key. It starts from when you have to do your medicals. I don’t know how much they pay for that, but I know there are vaccinations that you need to do and you pay a lot of money for that. Also, there’s the flights, which are very expensive, and you sometimes have to go via another country because it’s much cheaper than going direct, but that comes with a price because you spend longer hours at a particular airport before you get your next flight to wherever you are going. There’s the transportation you get when you arrive in the country you are going to be playing in. There’s also the challenge of the playing fields because you mostly play on astro turf, which is ridiculous because if we as Africa want to play and win the World Cup, we must never find ourselves in a situation where we play on artificial turf. So, there’s quite a number of challenges you have to deal with. There’s also coming back home and considering the space you get to play your next local game, that counts as well because you don’t get a lot of time and the traveling would have taken its toll. So, you need to manage that. This thing comes with resources. If you have the resources, then you are able to make good progress. For me, personally, I found it interesting because it taught me a lot of things. I find it very interesting and educational. It’s something I cherish because I experienced it and I can advise the next person on how to deal with certain things. You don’t realise it at first when you are taking part, but as the games come, you realise that it becomes too much and you need to manage the squad. The biggest part is the education you get from playing there.”