10 Sep 2015

Kids Development Soccer Academy has opened at Mogojogojo in Southren District. The academy, which is a community project, would seek to unearth raw talent among the youth. In an interview, Premier Skills Community coach, Benjamin Matlala, said their intention was to improve the quality of sport and groom youngsters to be among the world’s best.

Matlala, who is also BMC’s Meat Girls coach, said the idea came up while he was still undergoing a coaching training in 2012 under the British council where he graduated with a premier skills community coaching credentials.

He said in 2013, he did a preliminary coaching course under Botswana Football Association (BFA) after which he started the community project.

Matlala explained that development entailed five stages that included training for fun among children from three to 11 years to keep them busy, training to train which covered teaching 12 to 14 year-olds football basics and learning to train to impart skills from 14 to 16 year-olds to enhance basics.

“The other stage includes training to compete which comprises teaching youngsters from the age of 16 to 18 tactics, physical and psychological approach of the game as well as ball possession, he said.

The last stage in football development, he said, was training to win in which the youth from the age of 19 to 21 should be ready for the market and to compete with the world’s best. He opined that for the country to realise desired results in sport, youngsters had to be taught principles while they were still young.

He said some of the development techniques he imparted to the youth included receiving and passing tactic, heading either to defend or score and then shooting which required body positioning, among others.

Again, he said it was critical to teach youngsters to vary attack rather than just using straight passes when launching attacks that might be easy for opponents to thwart. Meanwhile, Matlala said Kids Development Soccer Academy has produced two players who compete at international level.

Lotlamoreng Sekwai, a student at the academy and an Under-13 national team player participating in Botswana Primary Schools Sports Association (BOPSSA), said the academy was effective in grooming youngsters. Sekwai had just returned from an international primary schools tournament in Zimbabwe where the Under 13 national team got bronze.

Participating countries included Zambia, Lesotho and Namibia. Sekwai is doing standard six at Mogojogojo Primary School

Keolebogile Seleka, aged 14, has also graduated from the academy. Seleka is plying her trade at BMC’s Meat Girls, which is in elite league. She had, in 2013, participated in an international tournament in Namibia under BOPSSA where she played a critical role in helping Botswana scoop a gold medal.

Furthermore, Matlala said the coaching clinic also afforded the youth opportunity for entertainment besides sport thus diverting them from social ills. He said drilling them also helped to be physically and psychologically fit, which turn enhanced their academic performance.

He added that sport built and instilled discipline and perseverance in children which may also contribute to their success in other spheres of life.

Again, he said sport also molded children to become responsible citizens, adding he was compelled by the fact that children dropped out from school due to teenage pregnancy and drug abuse because they lacked life skills. Nonetheless, Matlala said he wished to see more of his graduate playing competitive football in the elite league.

He said he had approached the village land overseer in connection with building structures that could be used as lecturing theatres for the sport academy.

However, he said a 2.5 hectare piece of land in Mathe ward in the village had been ear marked for such development.

On how he juggled his time in coaching BMC’s Meat Girls and offering his services at the academy, he said he conducted training sessions on Fridays and Saturdays at the academy and on Mondays and Thursdays at Meat Girls. On the other hand, Matlala said he had been chosen to coach the under 19 Lobatse football team at the Botswana Games scheduled for Francistown in December. Ends