28 Sep 2016

A female gaffer coaching a men football team is one of the scarce  things, but one Gagobotlhale Selebo from Mahalapye has defied such rarity and is looking forward to achieving more by owning a football academy in the country.

In an interview recently, 26-year-old Selebo said football was the god-king of all sports in the whole world.

She coaches Mahalapye United, and was probably the youngest female coach in the country.

Quizzed about how and when she developed interest in football, she said it was back in the times when she was only 11 years old.

“I have always loved football from an early age and I used to play football with boys in the street,” she said.

Selebo said even when her mother was against her choice of football, the first  born of two said she never lost a heart for the sport, adding that her love for the game grew with time even though her mother opposed her choice at first but she gave up at the end.

She explained that she then joined the school team at junior school level then proceeded to Swaneng Hill School and was still part of the school team.

She said after high school at just 19 when she thought she would play on and maybe earn a national team cap, destiny had different plans for her.

Selebo said from Swaneng Hill she then joined the Golden Girls FC until she was diagnosed with ulcers a year later which forced her to quit.

 “I couldn’t bare the pain of not doing anything football related and I always saw children in the dusty streets playing football, which is when I decided to take up development coaching.”

The soft spoken Selebo who holds a coaching certificate in youth development coaching under 13-20,  praised Green Lovers coach Othusitse “Chips” Kootswele citing that had it not been for him she would have not made it this far.

She said without him she probably would not be the kind of coach she was right now. 

Selebo said internationally she admires Jose Mourinho’s methods.

Further, she said interference from teams’ top management in the technical area cases are rife even in the so-called big clubs.

She said some even go to the extent of picking up the starting team for the coach, something which she said does not happen at her team as they trust her judgement.

She cited a cordial relationship between them, adding that there was no interference whatsoever from the management in her coaching area and never has been.”

Selebo said as a female coach she has not always been given the respect that she deserves, mentioning that some football supporters have discriminated her on the basis of gender.

 She noted that some of the players that have gone through her coaching were Gilport Lions’ Kedumetse Gabonamong, BR Highlanders’ Brian Kobe to mention but a few.

The Mahalapye United gaffer urged other teams to give female coaches a chance to showcase their coaching prowess as this would increase the participation of women in sports. 

She advised aspiring and upcoming youth development female coaches to take inspiration from her as she has been a coach for seven years. and still counting.

Lastly, she noted that development coaches should be sensitised in development football, as developing the player comes first and results come second. ENDS