African Stars to coach Van Rhyn school players

WINDHOEK, 08 NOV– Namibia Premier League (NPL) defending champions and 2018 Football Association Cup winner, African Stars will take Van Rhyn Primary School under their wing for a three-year period with the option to extend.
Katutura-based Stars who have won the NPL title on four occasions, announced their interest in guiding as well as grooming the primary school football players in the basic skills of the game.

African Stars administrator, Lesley Kozonguizi told Nampa on Wednesday that as part of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) club licensing, they decided to adopt the school which will be part of their youth structures.

“We have indicated to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) our interest of competing in the 55th edition of Africa’s premier club football tournament and part of their requirement is having youth structures. We saw it fit to start giving back to our communities, hence our decision to adopt Van Rhyn,” he said.

Kozonguizi noted that they have written many letters to different schools with the aim of including them in their youth development programmes, but only Van Rhyn came back to them.

“Our aim of adopting Windhoek-based Van Rhyn is to train their school teams once if not twice a week on basic football skills. Our assistant coach with the help of players will come after school to train the teams. Our head coach will join them when his schedule allows.”

The club administrator stated that by the time club licensing is enforced in the country, they will be ready to operate in full swing.
Meanwhile, African Stars head coach Robert Nauseb called on the school kids to take their education seriously as sports is a short career.

“I did not finish matric, though I was fortunate enough to play professional football. Despite that, I know how important it is to have an education which will help you feed your family or contribute to the country’s development differently if you don’t make it in sports,” said Nauseb.

He added that after his playing stint in South Africa, he decided he will only come back home if he can contribute positively to his people and working with the kids at Van Rhyn Primary School is a dream come true for him.
(NAMPA)