adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
FORMER Zimbabwe international Edzai Kasinauyo continues to give back to the game that gave him a platform for fame as he has teamed up with CAPS United board member Nhamo Tutisani to form an academy.
The duo come together to set up a school of excellence that will be based at Mt Pleasant High School after both businessman realised that their passion really lies in developing young talent.
Former CAPS United, Monomotapa and Border Strikers coach, Friday Phiri, has been roped in as head of the technical department and the seasoned gaffer is already at work.
The Academy will cater for three age-groups — Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17s.
The Herald yesterday caught up with Phiri as he took some of the players through their paces at Mt Pleasant.
“I started last week with the boys and this is my second week and then next week from the 22nd we are doing our first trials for four days,” said Phiri.
“So, basically, we are looking for the guys who already have potential and fast track them and achieve our goals.
“Yes, we have got some few guys who have got potential as I said earlier on, what we are looking for is his technique, his balance and everything which is needed for a complete player.”
Phiri, who has worked with junior players before, said he was well equipped for the task but noted that there was need for patience since it’s a development programme.
“This is not my first time working on such a project, previously I was with Monomotapa, they had this project, another huge project of which it came okay.
“This is the second one and maybe if I say this is the second one I may be wrong, I will say I implemented the CAPS United junior programme which was there in the early ‘80s.
“And now this is another huge task but is not new to me.
“I guess I can handle it but I need a lot of support because now the game has become modern, so you need modern players.
“It needs patience, it won’t materialise now but in the next three or four years it will produce results. Everyone should be patient because it’s not about results, it is about developing so it takes time to develop.
“Some of the players are fast learners, some are slow learners. So you come up with different types of players, that’s why I am saying five years from now you can come up with good players,” said Phiri.
The trials will be held from April 22-25 at Belgravia Sports Club with a number of soccer legends and scouts from Netherlands expected to be part of the selection panel.
Nhamo Tutisani, who is the director responsible for administration, said they were targeting to start the project with about 48 players for the three age-groups.
“We need to come up with a group of 48 covering the three age groups because what we intend to do with these kids like I said is proper identification. We need to take care or their educational needs, medical needs, their clothing and teach them to be proper citizens so you find the budget can be quite steep.
“What we intend to do is try and heighten the standards of playing football in the country and our guiding stick is the mere fact that sport is business, big business for that matter.
“You find that some kinds are academically talented, others are good at vocation while some are very good in sport. Our intention is to create a kid who is an all-rounder in terms of our basic culture, in terms of also understanding that when you are gifted in sport it’s a career despite the fact that it’s a short-term career because in majority of cases you find, especially in football you hardly go beyond 35.
“What then do you do if you amass a lot of money within that discipline, you should be able to then run a business either as a sport administrator, as a sports marketer, as a coach or as an official.
“There is life after football so you find our programme guides us in the fact that we have to identify the right mind.
“We have to groom the right mind, we have to develop the right mind and we have to expose the right mind, so that we at least have role models within our sporting community,” said Tutisani.
The Sports Avenue Academy will run this project in conjunction with Mt Pleasant High School and Tutisani said they want to take advantage of the already existing infrastructure.
The academy will be officially launched sometime later this year.
Their Under-17s, who would be selected during the trials have been invited to Germany for an exchange programme in early August but Tutisani said they are still working on the project and was not at liberty to speak much about that tour.
Online Reporter