‘Safa must imitate Spain’
NKOMO: THEY NURTURE THEIR DEVELOPMENT, WE DON’T
Development is widely-debated issue in the world of local football, but there is a general consensus that unless South Africa does a better job in nurturing its young talent, they are unlikely to ever be a real force in the global game.
With this in mind, it was interesting to hear the thoughts of a young coach this week, as he explained some of the difficulties of working with and training players at his side Orlando Real Sweepers.
Sakhile Nkomo was one of the winners of a trip to Spain this year as part of a partnership between La Liga, who about two years ago opened offices in Johannesburg, and Future Champions Gauteng.
Nkomo was selected as the coach to accompany Vuyo Xabanisa from Kwa-Bhekilanga Secondary School in Alexandra, Thabang Rallele from Kgomotso Comprehensive High School in Soshanguve and Thembelihle Fikile from Forest High School in Johannesburg for a trip-of-a-lifetime.
The group spent a week in Spain, which included seeing a La Liga match, visiting Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium and training with both Valencia and Villarreal.
Nkomo had to give up playing at a young age because of his asthma and chose to focus on coaching – he now works with Orlando Real Sweepers’ Under-11, Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 teams.
So what are his views on the difference between the way coaching is done in South Africa and in Spain?
“I learned so much from the coaches. The main difference is something I always emphasise – development.
“They start from the age of five, they have coaches focused on that age group. They have ‘A’ players that they say are strong and ‘B’ players those who are coming up, but they are the same age. They nurture their development, we don’t. That is where Safa have to come in … the grassroots coaches are a crèche. When you go to pre-school you can’t focus on your matric teacher. (And) we need equipment.”
One example is that at Sweepers they do not have proper training sticks, instead they improvise by breaking up broomsticks. They also have only six balls to split up between all the age-group teams at his club, and they only had four before Valencia sent him back with a couple of balls.
“Our players also need life skills, we need to teach our players how to treat yourself as a professional player, you have to work hard every day, even playing at grassroots level. You need to teach girls and boys about alcohol and partying, you can’t just teach them when they are already at Chiefs and Pirates (senior team).”
Learning about taking the job of a footballer more seriously is certainly something one of the players that went to Spain, Rallele, seems to have picked up while there.
“The experience was great, the humility and gratitude shown to us by those people (in Spain). I learned as a player how to act and the hard work I must put in to my studies and into football as a career,” he said.
“One day I want to be known worldwide as a top African player.”
They start from the age of five, they have coaches focused on that age.