Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
NATIONAL men’s Under-17 assistant coach Backlyfield Chivenga is hoping to improve his depth after joining Jadel Football Academy in China.
The youthful gaffer is now one of the co-coaches at one of the leading academies in the Asian country, working with Serbian and Chinese mentors.
Chivenga also joins goalkeepers’ coach Tichaona Diya who has been with the team since July. And he believes the rapidly growing organisation, founded by former Young Warriors star Walter “Ringers” Musanhu, will help fine-tune his understanding of the modern game at an international level.
“I am really grateful for such an opportunity and being considered in the first place. I expect to grow my art and learn as much as I can since there’s always something new in each environment,” Chivenga said.
“The idea is to further enrich my CV and knowledge of the game so that I can be more useful to the development of the players and the game as much as I can.”
He added that he has been blown away by how big JFA is in China. Jadel have more than 500 players across ages and genders from more than 23 different nationalities.
“I want to obviously contribute to the vision of the club and again see myself reach greater heights in the game by continuing to take up challenges that bring out the best out of me.
“The environment is very good and it’s obviously a bit tricky with the language, but I know soon it will be all good.
“It’s so cool to be in an environment like this. It’s a perfect platform for growth and development. The league we participate in is also very competitive. Everything is just professional and I am loving every bit of it.”
JFA director Musanhu said taking Chivenga on board is his way of giving exposure to upcoming coaches.
“We took a deliberate step to take him on board as we know he is a national junior teams coach. Here in China, he gets the much-needed exposure with modern training methods and coaching profiles,” said Musanhu.
“He will definitely improve in so many ways. At the end of the day, it is the country that gets to benefit. I love my country and that is the reason why I keep giving opportunities to coaches like Chivenga so they can improve themselves and ultimately help the country.
“We have worked with several coaches including Gilbert Mushangazhike who has since moved to coach in the Chinese Super League. At the moment we have Tichaona Diya and Chivenga. I am happy that the team has also received the team well and the environment is looking very good.”
