Kekana wants to improve the lives of female soccer payers

In his quest to tackle and overcome triple challenges that the country is riddled with, community developer Mmowa Kekana established a female soccer team known as First Touch Academy in Polokwane intended to curb unemployment and giving aspiring female soccer players from rural areas an opportunity to showcase their talent.
The 38-year old from Dithabaneng village in the Ga-Mphahelele area said the academy started operating last year February with seven players and now has more than 50 players.
He said he could have established a male soccer team but he decided to take the road less travelled.
“We don’t have a lot of female soccer clubs in the province. I thought I should establish a soccer academy in order to reach out to all talented female soccer players here. In my opinion there is immense talent in the province and in order for us to preserve it, we must create more opportunities for those young women,”Kekana said.
Since its establishment the academy has competed in the major national and local soccer competitions.
They won the Limpopo Sasol League title last season after beating their nemesis University of Limpopo 3-1 on the final day of the league in July last year. They also secured a fourth position in the national Sasol League play-offs that were held in Northern Cape in November last year. “We had a remarkable debut season. We played ten games in the league and we won all of them. We scored 36 goals and only conceded three during that season. We went on to represent the province at the national play-offs and that is a huge achievement for us.”
He added that they have already started with the preparations for the upcoming South African Football Association (Safa) Women ‘s Soccer League set to commence August this year.
The academy will join 12 other selected female soccer teams nationwide at the league.
According to Kekana the league will change the lives of his players. “Their monthly stipends will increase now. They will have proper salaries every month. I am happy for them and I am happy for the academy. This is a life changing initiative from Safa and I am urging all the female soccer players at our academy to make use of the opportunity,” added Kekana.
He said he would love to see corporates coming on board and sponsoring female soccer leagues and local clubs. “We are struggling to keep up with the salaries of the players and the technical team. We are in need of a financial injection so that we will be able to run the academy professionally.”
Among his protégés players that have caught the attention of the national female soccer team selectors count Moloko Choshi, Tshidi Muroa and Molatelo Sebata.
Moloko, a Grade 12 pupil at Capricorn High School, was part of the South African Women Soccer squad that participated in u.17 World Cup qualifiers against Botswana last year.
Muroa and Sebata were invited by Desiree Ellis, head coach of the South African Senior Female Soccer Team, Banyana Banyana for a training camp to prepare for the 2018 Cosafa Women’s Championship.
They were also called up for the Banyana Banyana international friendly matches against the Netherlands and Sweden in Cape Town in last year.
Last month the duo saw their names in the Banyana Banyana squad for the international friendly matches against Sweden and the Netherlands in Cape Town in January and they took also part Cyprus Women’s Cup in March.
Kekana believes the success of the three players will inspire others. He added that he would love to see his players secure lucrative contacts with overseas teams in future.

Story and photos: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com