Local player shares how he got into football
Currently, Ofentse's pursuit is to be a professional soccer player at a young age, and that will take sacrifices and hard training to achieve.
In finding out that football could be his ticket to success, Ofentse Mmamushi continued his sister’s dream of becoming one of the greatest soccer players.
As a young player from the ‘ghetto’, Ofentse grew up dreaming of breaking his family’s financial struggles. He fell more in love with the beautiful game after seeing his sister win awards as a player at school. “But most importantly, I imagined myself out of the ghetto with this sport,” he said.
Fast forward a couple of years after drawing inspiration from his sister, and the 18-year-old Hawks FC player has now won a couple of local kasi tournaments and made a name for himself in Midrand, Tembisa, and surrounding areas.
“It is my dream to be remembered as an African legend, to win major titles for the national team, and to become a role model to the entire nation, as Sadio Mane has been in Senegal.”
His goal is to be a professional soccer player at a young age and that will take sacrifices and hard training to achieve.
“Football is considered to be just practice and fun…it is hard to play on those big fields. But with time, you will learn the value of sacrifice and hard work, you will make life-long friendships over a common bond, and you will learn to deal with both failure and success.”
The hardworking left-back and midfielder said he pushed himself every time he trained, either with the team or on his own.
His special skills are crossing and passing the ball and he loves playing tiki-taka football.
The career aspirations of young people matter and having a mentor helps with making the right decisions, and for Ofentse it has always been his neighbour, Bubele Mgele.
“He [Mgele] has been there for me since I was coming up, he is like a father to me and has supported me throughout my football career and in life generally.”
The Masiqakaze Secondary School Grade 10 learner concluded that when he was stressed or under pressure, he always tried to play like his role model, Jorginho Frello, by remaining calm and being a deep-lying playmaker who excels on the turn, with precision control to wiggle his way out of any situation.
Related Article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/midrand-reporter/317308/box-to-box-midfielder-remains-calm/
