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Raymond Jaravaza
BACK to school!
While their fellow coaches are enjoying the off season, a number of Premier Soccer League gaffers are hard at work in the classroom to earn Caf A Licence badges in a course that is underA� way at the Zifa Village in Harare.
Championship winning coach Lloyd Chitembwe and his assistant Mike Mathe at Caps United are honing their skills in theory and practical lessons in a Caf A course before the Zimbabwe representatives in the Caf Champions League start their African safari campaign.
Caps United take on Lesotho minnows Lioli in the preliminary stage before taking on African football giants TP Mazembe in the first round proper.
Highlanders assistant coach Amini Soma- Phiri has also gone back to school before the start of the 2017 Premier Soccer League season together with South African National First Division side Amazulu assistant coach Prince Matore.
Matore is second in command to former Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas at the Durban based outfit that competes in the second tier South African league.
A total of 32 coaches are taking part in the Caf A License course that has been divided into two modules at a cost of $1 000. Coaches must be holders of a Caf B Licence and have at least one year experience attached to a club to take part in the course that started last Monday.
The first module will run until 23 January while the second module starts on 13 February and ends a fortnight later.
Mighty Warriors assistant coach Sithethelelwe a�?a�?Kwinji 15a��a�� Sibanda is the only woman taking part in the course after another female Rosemary Mugadza pulled out as a result of other commitments.
Also part of the participants are former Ngezi Platinum coach Cliffton Kadurira, Harare City FC assistant coach Mike Madzivanyika, former Under-17 and Monomotapa coach Rodwell Dhlakama as well as division one coaches.
a�?We currently have 41 Caf A Licence holders in the country so we expect the number to rise at the end of this course so ita��s now up to the participants to work hard and pass. As a country we are taking heed to standardisation calls being made by Caf meant to improve the level of coaching in the continent by having only qualified personnel sitting on technical benches,a�? said Zifa technical director Taurai Mangwiro who is being assisted by Nelson Matongorere in instructing the course.
Gibson Homela is co-ordinating.
A Caf assessor is expected to be in the country at least five days before the end of the course to oversee examinations.
a�?This group of participants has a lot of active coaches who are eager to attain one of the highest coaching certificates in Africa and take their careers to the next level. We also have a few school teachers which is good for our grassroots football,a�? said Mangwiro.
The participants will be taken through theory and practical lessons of coaching, the laws of the game as well as the sports medicine and administrative aspects of the game. .
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