28 Jun 2023

Botswana Football Association (BFA) coach educator has emphasised the need to improve the quality of coaches and develop experts in all areas of development.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of CAF C License course on Monday, Lesikalame Keatholetswe said training would focus on the development of the player, both individually and as part of the team.

The course is part of the association’s initiative to train local football coaches in order for them to attain coaching certification.

Keatholetswe said the information presented would equip coaches with knowledge of the game as well as the best ways to train young players.

“We want to prepare coaches working with players aged 12-16 by expanding their knowledge and understanding of the technical and tactical demands of the game and to understand the developmental process necessary for players at these ages,” he said.

For his part, BFA technical director, Tshepo Mphukuti thanked all coaches attended the course as well as the coach educators who availed themselves to share their knowledge.

Mphukuti also appreciated the South Central Regional Football Association for their dedicated efforts in organising the course, saying that would remain their priority for the next four years.

“Football is like a school. 

A school without teachers is not a school. Football requires teachers of the game so that they can talk about quality players and high performance,” he said.

He added that BFA would not rest until they had A-License coaches at regional level.

He indicated that the association had set a target that in the 2024/25 season, no one would be allowed to sit on the bench of regional team without a C License certificate, first division team without a B-license and premier league without an A-License while any foreign coach would be required to have better qualifications.

“We can no longer leave football coaching to chance. In the 2024/25 season, for one to qualify for CAF C license, the coach must be in possession of the BFA C license,” he said.

He further said Botswana was the first country in Southern Africa to be granted permission by CAF to run the CAF A license course after fully complying with the eight Criteria of CAF Convention, where each member association was charged with developing the curriculum for D, C, B, A licenses and fully compliant.

That, he said, involved producing manual, teaching slides, examination criteria, internship programme, development of coach educators, course programme, among others.

“We need to take advantage of the fact that we are a step ahead of a lot of countries in Africa and close the gap while we are still trying to meet the convention requirement,” he added.

For his part, Kgosi Desmond Keitseope of White City ward in Mahalapye appreciated BFA for recognising talent in the village and providing training to the coaches.

Kgosi Keitseope said football brought a lot of behavioural change among youth as they used the sport for recreation and to avoid roaming the streets. 

He said Mahalapye was mostly associated with misconduct, but football had changed the lives of youth, hosted tournaments in order to improve their standard of living.

He added that the village had produced a lot of football stars and he was happy that BFA had made it possible to help them upgrade their skills to produce other young stars.

Kgosi advised coaches to take the training seriously and learn in order to match the standards of coaches who were recognised at national levels. ENDs