You cannot keep a good man down. Michael Seleka, football manager and head coach of the NWU Tawana at the North-West University’s (NWU) campus in Potchefstroom, sounds dejected as he gives a recap of his team’s performance in the SAFA ABC Motsepe League. The NWU Tawana ended their 2021/2022 campaign in a disappointing seventh position.
In the 2020/2021 season, the NWU Tawana ended in a respectable fourth position on the overall log of nine teams.
“We had a good first round this season, but after the break we lost a lot of games we should have won. We had opportunities we never converted, and we lost a number of players because they left the university in December,” he says.
However, and with characters like Seleka there is always a big “however”, the NWU Tawana are already geared towards delivering the goods in the 2022/2023 season.
“The guys are off until the end of June, but we are already scouting for new players and organising trials. We want to get some new guys into the setup, and we will be looking at the first-years in particular. The team is there, we just need to replace those who graduated.”
It was also a learning experience for Seleka.
“I gained a lot of new insights, especially concerning video analyses and mental preparation. We have always done video analyses, but now we are placing a greater emphasis on the finer details. The same goes for mental preparation. Every game comes with a different mindset, and we need to hone the guys’ attitude towards each game. We sometimes took games too lightly – to our detriment. That is something I need to work on,” remarks Seleka.
There is another side to the coin to take into account. Seleka explains: “Football in Potchefstroom is different. We source our players from our residences and then they compete in a semi-professional league. We are doing a lot of coaching here at the campus in Potchefstroom, and that is a good thing.”
The NWU campus in Potchefstroom boasts one of the largest residence leagues in the country, with 44 residence teams that comprise 21 men’s teams and 23 women’s teams.
