Young soccer players being taken through their paces during a training session FILE - Young soccer players being taken through their paces during a training session. Photo: Cara Viereckl
Johannesburg — South African Football Coaches’ Association (SAFCA) president Greg Mashilo says they want to implement a uniform coaching methodology on local coaches after being accredited as an institution.
On Friday, SAFCA launched their 30th anniversary at the SAFA headquarters, Nasrec, with an aim of reviving their mandates as an association after failing to see maximum returns in the last few years.
Part and parcel of their launch, which was attended by founding members such as Sam Mbatha, Cavin Johnson and Dan Malesela and SAFA president Danny Jordaan, was to make an announcement.
SAFCA announced that they’ve been accredited by the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA) as a semi-fledged coaching facility as well.
However, although their programmes are still limited to certificate level, SAFCA says they are willing to grow as an institution so that they help coaches be in sync with the latest trends of coaching.
“We’ve realised that there’s a lot of diversity in South Africa. We are taking note of that within our coaches. Each coach has their own philosophy and our players are confused,” Mashilo said.
“They are confused because we don’t know our identity, who we are and where we are going. When we did our research as SAFCA we realised that most of our coaches are doing whatever they like.
“They Google and use that on the players. Our training needs a specific way of doing and that methodology needs to be addressed and be spread around to all the local coaches.
“As SAFCA, we want all the coaches. Those old ones, we want to RPL (Recognised Priority Learning) them and show them the new ways of doing, in respect to ourselves, not outside influence.”
At the moment, SAFCA is working hard to get underway an 18-day program, which can be divided into two blocks of nine days, where each candidate will be required to invest at least 200 hours.
Although there’ll be four forms of assessments, varying between theory and practice, the candidates will also be expected to intensify their study by working closely with players at the higher levels.
“As SAFCA, we want to contact the regions and LFA’s (Local Football Associations) so that when we want a player from KZN, he is developed the same way as the one in Limpopo,” Mashilo added.
In their revival mandate, SAFCA are eager to go back to their roots by founding another institution such as the Transnet School of Excellence where they'll, again, polish raw diamonds and make them superstars.
Since the downfall of the School of Excellence, it’s been a challenge to find an academy that goes through the lengths and breath of the country to find talent from grassroots level.
“We want to touch the brains of the youngsters in a uniform way. As SAFCA, that’s our methodology, to make sure that each and every player is coached by the same unity and philosophy,” Mashilo said.
IOL Sport
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