adminAt the beginning of each year clubs are inundated with dozens of players eager to pen new contracts. The players are drawn from juniors, amateur ranks and even those who are already professionals seeking greener pastures.It is the way this is done in Zimbabwe that I have a problem with. Players start training with their prospective employers at the beginning of January. For two months they are hopeful that something can work out.
They give it the best hoping to start a new life. On the eve of the close of registration with the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League, the coach like a hangman comes to deliver the killer blow “hamba uyedinga kwenye indawo thina sesikwanile.”
The youngster is left devastated. He has nowhere to go as all other teams would have filled their slots in the Premiership. It’s now left to the player to turn to lower division football which also has a few days to go before the deadline.
In most countries, trials are not an open door event. In Zimbabwe even a passer-by can decide to just drop in and try his luck on the spur of the moment. This approach is a waste of time, resources and energy for the coach and the player and the objective of strengthening the team may be distorted because of the huge number of players.
The coach/player ratio in Zimbabwe is too high. So for the coach, his assistant and the goalkeepers’ trainer to find a rough diamond from 100 players is a difficult task to perform.
Coaches should have spies or clubs must employ junior coaches who they can use to scout for talent. Towards the end of the season, these can make recommendations to the head coach about the material from the juniors.
Towards the end of the year or just before the second transfer window opens, a good coach is aware of needy areas. The gaffers must invite specific players for particular roles instead of the blanket approach. This would ensure that the coaches look at special attributes and compare with what they have in stock.
Over the years we have seen the blanket approach failing to capture some good talent only for it to blossom at the next club. Charles Sibanda a few years ago failed to make the grade at Highlanders, Gilbert Banda did not impress last year but emerged as one of the best centrebacks in the league and there are so many boys coming from lower divisions who are lost because of this approach.
Nkosana Siwela, Tarisayi Rukanda, Warren Dube and Thembani Masuku also met the same fate. This problem is not peculiar to Highlanders but is a nationwide issue needing perhaps a workshop on how to conduct trials. Why make 80 players run up mountains when you will discard 55 of them after two months.
Programmes should be designed where retained players train separately and trialists looked at in game situations and once impressive they can then work with the first team knowing they are part of the team.
Coaches must be man enough to disappoint the lads early and in any case anyone with an eye for talent needed just a few of Thabani Masawi’s touches to see the class act he was.
If my beloved Kaizer Chiefs and Liverpool were to have open trials, Anfield would have over 70,000 players from across the globe vying to play alongside Suarez. That is why professional clubs are able to pluck an unknown gem from an obscure league in the world and throw it into the squad.
So today there are so many players who have been running and training with clubs that will dump them at the last minute. How long should a trial last? In Zimbabwe they seem to last forever whereas elsewhere they could just be a day or two weeks at most. Trials are not a stage to develop non-existent talent but for coaches to view what could be of use to them.
A friend in China was telling me at one stage that in his country a player buys his own ticket and is thrown onto the field the moment he arrives. If in 10 minutes there is no glimmer of hope in the player, he is pulled out and escorted to the airport but in Zimbabwe clubs can foot accommodation, food and transport bills for trialists for seven weeks.
Since its trials, players must be given the benefit of trying out at several clubs early so that they can secure their future before the registration deadlines.
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Online Reporter