THE LOCAL COACHING SCENE – MYTHS AND LESSONS, ONCE A PLAYER ALWAYS A PLAYER

Many a soccer fan that walks into a stadium is probably interested in one thing and one thing only, their team winning the game. For the neutral fans it’s probably the entertainment and suspense that comes with a football match and more so a chance to see a goal or two or ten.

Football is perhaps one of the most unpredictable sports and in my books is a 90 minute plus thriller that no one is prepared for. That being the case, one needs to understand that before match day, a lot of work has gone in to provide the match day content that we are all anxious to watch and enjoy.

Without a doubt many factors and participants ensure that we are entertained come match day and fans hope they will get their monies worth when they watch a match that is assuming taba pulile (freebies).

Besides the players (the Sate Sates, the Altezzas, Bazos, spacious, Budo of this world) and coaching staff (Dessouza, Alega, Kizo, ichoni mwi bala, Sokile), we have grounds men(Ba Manase at ADS or Ba Phiri at Nkoloma), Kit Masters (Chonto, Ba Fizi), cleaners and a whole host of “team” members ensuring that our experience is enjoyable and to them I say bravo.

I have personally had the privileged to meet and interact with a host of coaches on the local scene, and it is from this interaction that I share my experiences and opinion, please note the use of the word opinion.

I can’t speak for other countries but from personal experience, there is an unwritten rule in Zambia that when football players retire, it is expected that they progress into coaching roles, right or wrong this is very noticeable in Zambian Football. Unless I am wrong, and I stand to be corrected, every coach in the Zambia Premier League and the National First division had a football career as a player prior to crossing over to being coaches and with them they have carried on to this role lessons and experiences inclusive habits from their playing days.

Many have heard the words style of play or philosophy, and this is loosely a trait or character that a team displays often because the coach employs it in his work as such. It is therefore expected that one would be able to tell the style of play of each team merely by knowing who the coach is. Fact or theory can this be seen?

Fordson Kabole is arguably one of the coaches whose style of play was known the moment you watched a team that was under his tutelage, there was no “chintaluke” (pass it on or to whom it may concern) type of play but a passing game that had fans on the edge of their seats, this also is true with Fred Mwila who adds on sarcasm in his methods and did not condone any high ball play or perhaps we could speak of the Linos “Sokile” Makwaza “Ndi Ndi” model that focuses of 90 minutes endurance and running or indeed the Perry Mutapa philosophy of allowing players to express themselves nama cheeky sana or Chicken George employing the double anchormen midfield model, suffice to say every coach has their own methods.

Despite the apparent distinction highlighted, I wondered why I could go to any training session and could probably guess the training regime as if coaching was a one size fits all thing, Monday would be recovery, Tuesday would be running, Wednesday ball work, Thursday friendly match, Friday camp and Saturday game day. This routine was/is repeated over and over regardless of the opponent to be faced in the next match and I do not recall a review of the previous match when the preps for the next one commences. It then occurred to me that perhaps it was because the coaching foundation was similar and hence the similarities or that the there is only one source of coaching methodology, that provided by CAF through FAZ.

I will admit that I haven’t asked the question why this is so but rather just making an independent observation more so that save for Kelvin Kaindu, Honor Janza and Dan Kabwe (currently in Malawi) who have extended their badges to UEFA the rest are predominantly CAF.

My opinion and position are that the unwritten rule is flawed, it should not always be the case that once a player’s career comes to an end he should go into coaching. I am happy to note that this isn’t the case always and I am hoping that it grows more and more that others have decided perhaps coaching isn’t all they can do. I can point to Linos Chalwe who decided to venture into the administrative side of things with his involvement in providing administrative services and representation to players through FAWUZ or Given Singuluma and Jonas Sakuwaha who seemingly have found their feet in commentary, to them I say well done. I would also like to see former players getting formal training in video analysis as this is fast becoming a necessity rather than a luxury as many people would love to believe, that too is a career worth a shot, and it pays well. I hope that many others will follow suit and diversify from coaching because I mean how many coaching jobs are out there anyway?

I also know of other players that have decided to go into the scouting and “trading “of players, while others have ventured into supplying of sports equipment, this should be encouraged.

Back to coaching, unfortunately there is also another detrimental trend on the local scene that seems to stifle coaches’ development, and this is perpetrated by the football administrators that run clubs, it appears that there is another unwritten rule to only consider “established” coaches for head coach roles for fear of the wrath of the fans, but even this is not sustainable.

It is also almost impossible for a club to allow their coaches to go for further studies or attachments during their employ compounded by the fear that should they leave for further studies, they will find they have been replaced. In this aspect I would like to single out Red Arrows who have in the recent past sent their head coach out to enhance his badges, they have recently been joined by Power Dynamos who have sent Mwenya Chipepo to Tanzania for CAF A training, Green Eagles have sent Alex Namazaba and Lusaka Dynamos have sent Manchi Janza. This is very encouraging, and it would be good to see more of this extending to UEFA courses as well.

I recall once having so ken to a coach about an opportunity for a 3-month attachment in Europe and he declined the opportunity on account of the fact that he would be preparing for continental football, and there I was thinking this will actually help you and your club, but I guess different perspectives.

Without dwelling on statistics, I doubt we have more than 20 CAF A Licenced coaches in Zambia and I am being modest with the number, we may have 40 or there about of CAF B, and maybe 100plus CAF C and the number swells the lower you go. Imagine how many Coaches have earned their CAF B badges from 2014 till date or CAF C? 2014 being the last CAF A course I remember, where are they all going and what happens after those courses are completed? Because it is impossible that they are all employed and what of those who ventured into youth football? At which point are they ready to take up head coach roles?

I can understand the apprehension of clubs to “experiment” with in experienced coaches( tala pya, yamu kulila itemu aka they are not ready for head roles), but here is a news flash experience comes from being given opportunities and I refuse to believe that the established coaches are the only ones who can perform and should be the first point of call when another established one has been sacked (musical chairs as I call it), its time clubs took the risk with upcoming coaches and gave them a chance but this will only happen if these coaches show that they have more to offer than their teachers and mentors.

More recently we have seen predominantly assistant coaches being given head roles and I can single out Tenant Chembo, Mwenya Chipepo, Dabid Chilufya, Masauso Tembo, Joel Bwalya, Boyd Mulwanda and Dennis Makinka, and they have done a good job working with the “material” they have, so where is the problem? If their employers have seen it fit to employ them, I urge them to invest in them further by upgrading their badges because ultimately, they will yield the benefits of better tactics, better training regimes and modern trends that will firstly set them apart from their opponents locally but will also give them a chance to compete on the continental stage.

To those that have decided to take coaching up as a career, that too is good, but I have a proposal or a suggestion, if in their playing days they went to training each and every day to improve and to get better and to work on their “short comings”, it’s no different when one crosses over to the coaching side, in fact it’s more important to constantly improve on the other side because unlike a player who can be substituted and played again in another game for a not so good performance, the fate of a coach is brutal, there is no substitution, its an outright “transfer” well of course with the exception of our infamous “administrative leave, but the point is that the scale used for a player and that of the coach are different and when the fans begin to call for the “heads “of coaches, the administrators immediately swing in with their ultimatums to save their own necks.

Today’s football is a science, it’s no longer about having played football before, it’s about tactics, analysis, study of your opponents, preparation, “spying” and a whole host of things. While it is important to have some playing knowledge, it is not the only determining factor, I have very great respect for our local coaches, and they have done very well, and I know they can do much much better should they have access to the same conditions, facilities, materials and support given to coaches in other leagues like the PSL for instance.

Unfortunately, to be among the best in today’s game playing experience is no longer enough, and with each passing day to be able to compete one must be tech savvy or at least have access to technology and modern training methods and facilities, today things like psychologists, diets and specific player tailored training make a huge difference in player performance which ultimately determines the team’s performance.

With all due respect to the available coaching courses, they can no longer prepare coaches for the dynamic global sport on their own and I am happy and hopeful that the FAZ partnerships with the Croatian FA and the Moroccan FA will extend to training of our local coaches, I mean if there is a choice between a CAF Course and a UEFA Course, take a guess which one I would go for? It is also a wake-up call for ZAFCA to make deliberate efforts to leverage on these synergies and with the plans to set up a coaching school by FAZ, I hope that ZAFCA will play a leading role in identifying and assisting coaches access further training.

My point is that while I admit that the conditions under which our local coaches have to work are unfavorable, it starts with them knowing that they are professionals just like an accountant, a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, and for them to excel in this field they must improve themselves, it will not happen by repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, it will happen by deliberately exposing themselves to modern trends and technics of football. What’s my point? My point is that a three-week coaching course with a practical lesson cannot be compared to an attachment at a club or reading about tactics and formations and drills online or in books, it cannot be compared or compete with one who has access to video analysis, or GPS technology to monitor the performance of their players and course it cannot be compared to one who has access to the best equipment and facilities. Just as football is a team sport, it has to be a concerted effort to ensure that while we are developing our players, we need to develop our coaches, and our facilities as well only then will we see an improvement in our leagues and our participation on the continent, until that happens, we will always be second when we could easily be second to none.

(Lombe Mbalashi – Advocate of the Supreme and High Court of Zambia, Former FAZ EXCO Member )