Bothwell Mahlengwe
LAST week I wrote about lack of ambition among football players and one player I criticised was Dynamos midfielder Cliff Sekete. Interestingly, the next Monday, he inspired Dynamos to a 3-1 demolition of Bantu Rovers.
Well done Cliff, keep it up.

I am not sure if Sekete’s performance was in response to my article or it was just a coincidence.

I will be the happiest man if it was response to the article.

My worst fear is that not so many footballers bother to read the newspaper, let alone a book. The challenge I was left with is how then can the message get to the players?

One person wrote in response to my last week’s article:
“One area that needs to be interrogated is the role of player/managers or agents, or whatever else they are labelled. How much mentorship do they provide the player? What is their motivational contribution to the player? Some only seem to show up at the contract time . . . ”

It’s true player managers and team managers have a crucial role to play.

But most of them start interacting with players at a later stage and at that stage it would be too late to “teach new tricks to an old dog.”

The best would be to catch them young and infuse in them the necessary success ingredients.

The challenge, however, is that our junior football system is in a shambles — anyone can form their so-called academy and “groom” players.

What about those currently playing — “the old dogs”?

My approach would be two pronged — one to target the juniors (school going) and the second one to target the “old dogs.”

The juniors approach would have to be worked on in schools, through Zifa, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Sports and Culture.

My suggestion is to introduce what I would term “Football Education.”

This system would be implemented through Sports Directors and/or Sports Masters. It goes without saying that most of the sports oriented pupils, especially football, are academically challenged, or rather, they are not interested in academics.

However, any person given enough incentive to tackle a challenge, they would pull through amazingly.

Forcing them to take a “course” that prepares them for life challenges in return for them being allowed to play football would be the best thing to do.

The end product would be different from what we have now.

The second approach would be through the Players’ Union. This is a union that has a lot to do in changing the mindsets of our players.

Of late they have been acting as the legal representatives of players.

However, with Football Education, the focus would be to bring out a better product — a smart and informed player.

Through this, they will notice, their legal advisory work would be reduced.

Therefore, there is need to introduce and conduct Football Education courses to players, through their teams, say at least twice every year.

It would also be beneficial to players to even conduct extra classes during the off season where most players find themselves with nothing to do and unfortunately engage in substance abuse.

The Football Education course should include among other things;
Contracts — the basic tenets of a contract especially the player’s expectations and obligations.

Communication — proficiency in spoken English language. Whether we like it or not English is the widely used professional language. Knowledge of it puts you at an advantage. It is saddening that some players miss out on opportunities because they can’t communicate in English.

Money education — the importance of saving and investments. This is an area that affects most people, especially footballers, because their careers are short. Therefore it is of paramount importance that they are taught on the importance of saving money and investing — preparing for the rainy day.

Post playing era career guidance — Players need to be taught on the options available when their playing days are over. Not all players are cut for coaching hence the need for this guidance.

General Life Skills — this would cover among other things

The importance and art of goal setting
Knowledge and balance of all areas of life — family, financial, spiritual, mental/educational, vocational, social and physical/health.

Character building — self-discipline, self-belief, honest, self-esteem and other positive virtues. Respect, respect yourself, respect the game, and respect others.

Effects of substance abuse
This way, I want to believe, we will produce a better player. One who can aid in making our soccer achieve the elite status that it deserves and attract a wide array of supporters like in Europe and South America where it’s treated as a family sport. This will also help in attracting the much-needed sponsorship.

I wouldn’t have done justice to Cliff Sekete and the alike if I don’t give them a word of advice.

If Sekete’s performance at Bantu Rovers was a response to my article then he has proved that he is talented and full of potential.

If it wasn’t, still it’s proof enough. Your potential is unlimited. It depends on you. How far you want to go is the big question?

Thomas Edison said: Success is based on imagination and ambition and the will to work. Genius is truly, “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Set your goals as high as you can imagine.

Remember Napoleon Hill’s philosophy, “whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”

Be prepared to do the work.

When you go for something, don’t come back until you get it. Talk to your coaches and fellow players about your strengths and areas that need to improve.

Accept their feedback without prejudice.

And work.

Make mistakes, learn from them, correct them and move on. Practice, practice, practice. Intelligence is a way of acting.

I will leave you with a story I read on Robin Sharma’s blog about the NBA legend Magic Johnson. Magic spoke of the fact that during one season Larry Bird dominated him when it came to free throw success. And so, Magic vowed that the next year, he would show Bird his own mastery.

For the next six months, he built the following morning routine: he would wake up early and go down to his home basketball court.

And he wouldn’t leave until he had made 100 successful free throws.

In a row.

Some days, Magic would be done by 7 am. Other days he would be still shooting at noon.

But he never left before making his 100 daily consecutive free throws.

It was a dedicated routine.

The next year, Magic Johnson beat his rival Larry Bird in free throws.

So much for setting out to do something and not coming back until it’s done!

Cliff, go for the first mile, the second, the third, the next and the next. Don’t give up until you join the ranks of Peter Ndlovu, Benjani Mwaruwaru, Kennedy Nagoli, Kennedy Chihuri and Norman Mapeza.

  • Bothwell Mahlengwe is a banker and former Premiership footballer and can be contacted, for feedback, on – [email protected]

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