Phikwe coaches blame constituency league for falling standards

Imi Mokgethi | Tuesday August 30, 2016 15:02

One of the coaches, Baetsi Motlogelwa of Phikwe Aces highlighted that a significant number of talented players join the league for the money, noting that this consequently destroys their careers as the tournament does not have skilled coaches to nurture their talent.

“We had one skilled and promising player from our team who did that. This is really a great concern to us because this league is destroying young players’ bright future,” he said.

Motlogelwa further said the coaches need to be thoroughly trained in order to bring out the best out of the young players. Gokatweng Semarumo of Eastern Supers shared the same sentiments, stating that coaches are doing a great job in youth development therefore cannot take the blame for those young players who are just after money.

On the other hand, Granada Wanderers coach, Pusetso Maseko pointed out that the reason why players prefer to play in the constituency tournaments is because of lack of motivation from their teams as they do not get any incentives, adding that they also do not get enough empowerment to grow their football careers. “There is no competition in our football here; we just play for the sake of playing. We will never go anywhere until we change the situation,” he stressed.

Maseko saidd the quality of coaching is also worrisome, noting that most of the coaching licensing courses are centralised in Gaborone making it difficult to access.

“We only have five qualified coaches who can improve the standard of our football in this region, some of us just coach without any basics,” he said.

Maseko also expressed concern over the gap between the region’s First Division and Premier League teams accusing the top-flight sides of failing to develop young footballers. He said instead, they tend to get players from other areas although there are players in the region who are equally talented.

Botswana Football Association (BFA) regional coach for Selebi-Phikwe, Gabanathata Tshegofatso reiterated that the Premier League’s sidelining of lower division teams has immensely affected the growth of football.

In addition, he highlighted that there is need for a coaching clinic to enable coaches to get the necessary skills that will assist in improving the standard of football, thus imploring all coaches to be keen to learn.

Tshegofatso further urged coaches in schools to monitor the progress of their student players when they graduate from one school to another to ensure that their talent continues to be nurtured.