University of Western Cape (UWC) head coach, Thinasonke Mbuli says the upcoming CAF Women’s Champions League is an opportunity for players to showcase their talents and potentially advance their careers.
Mbuli, who guided the University side to its first ever COSAFA Women’s Champions League gold medal and qualification to the CAF Women’s Champions League says players ‘must grab this opportunity with both hands as this is the biggest women’s club competition in Africa.
In this exclusive interview with CAFOnline, Mbuli who is also Banyana Banyana Assistant Coach shares insights of coaching a university club and why it is important for her team to also do well academically.
Coach congratulations on qualifying for the CAFWCL, what do you make of this achievement?
It’s a huge achievement for the team and University being the first University to do this, I think this has been one of our biggest achievements as a club. Going to the COSAFA Tournament was one thing but qualifying for the CAF Women’s Champions Lea
gue, which is the biggest women’s club competition in Africa is everyone’s dream. So, we are finally happy to reach our dream because this has always been our dream.
Last season we did very well even though we lost the league with just four games to go so we have really been pushing to win the league so this opportunity we got was God giving us a second chance which is what I told the players. I hope they grab this opportunity with both hands.
When starting off the season, was this part of the goals that you had set?
For the past three seasons, we have been watching the COSAFA Qualifiers with the hope of being. So even in our pre-season training, we planned for this tournament because we usually play about 40 games a season which is league matches, Varsity Football and USSA Champs but preparation for this season was to plan for 60 games which included COSAFA. So, it was part of our plan and when we got it, we were happy and that is why we were able to compete.
Even after losing the first game, we had to r
emind the players that this is where you wanted to be, so we had to come back and win it.
How important is it for the team to do well at the competition next year when competing against the best clubs in Africa?
I think it would be very important for us to do well. We are going there for the first time, but we don’t want to go there just to add numbers. We have seen what this tournament has done for other players from other teams. This is the highest level and an opportunity for players to market themselves.
I remind the players that it’s not everyone who will get a chance to represent the national team so at this level if they do well, there will be scouts and who knows what might happen and you might get a better opportunity. We won’t stand in any players way so if anyone gets an opportunity elsewhere, we release and support them.
As much as we want to do well as a club, players also have individual goals, and it is our duty to help them fulfil their dreams and showcase the standard of our nation’s foot
ball to the rest of Africa.
Your experience at national team level may come in handy at the tournament, how important will this be for the team?
My experience at the national team might help but again club football is different from national team. We will rely on the experience of the players that have been with the national team who have been outside of the COSAFA region because they know how it is like to play in different parts of Africa. It is different from our region so in terms of preparation, it will help to have our mental preparations done well.
Above talent, the CAFWCL requires mental strength, how do you plan on working on this with your squad?
It is true, playing in Africa requires mental strength and obviously physical strength is required. At the COSAFA qualifiers we were tested physically because our players are small in size. Yes, size doesn’t matter in football, but we were tested physically which gave us an opportunity to perfect our strength which is keeping the ball, which worked quit
e well for us.
We are blessed to be in a university set up and so we have access to Sport Psychologists because we cannot do it as coaches and that is why as a coach you have different assistants because you can’t do everything on your own. So, we will rely on other sectors at the University to help us and that is why we will engage with our Sport Psychologists on campus.
?Seeing that most of the players are students, how would you say you will be able to balance football and education?
It is very tough to balance the two and I really hope the tournament will be after exams because October/November is the exam period, and we don’t want to put players in position to postpone exams so I really hope it will be after their exams.
It has been tough situation but we happy that in the team we have 12 graduates, and I am sure we will have more next year but yes it has been very difficult. At the end of the day, we are a university team and the core business of university is education.
As a technical team, we als
o try giving them days off so that they can focus on their studies. We also have a department helping our players that follows their academic work and highlight players who are not doing well and share that information with us.
?Lastly, UWC seems to be doing well in both the Men and Women’s football, what is the secret to this?
I think we have been lucky to have kept the same team since the start of the league in 2019 and even those who graduated along the way have come back to do their honours studies and still play for us.
It takes about four years to build a team, and we have been fortunate to be able to do that.
However, for me, as a university team coach, education is important. If you win trophies but not do well then, the equation does not balance. So as happy as I am that we are doing well, I am even happier that they are doing well academically.
Source: Confederation of African Football
