Zane Ryklief’s patience of nearly a decade to get enrolled for his CAF A level badges, could prove well worth the wait.
One of the reasons is probably that he will be learning and rubbing shoulders with esteemed and high-profile coaches such as Gavin Hunt, Boebie Solomons, Eric Tinkler to name a few, who are also enrolled in this course.
But most importantly, it could potentially raise Ryklief’s status and put him in an elite bracket and possibly open (coaching) doors and better future prospects.
Ryklief’s dream is now coming to realisation after The Confederation of African Football (CAF) Coaching Convention has officially readmitted the South African Football Association (SAFA), which paves the way for South Africa to host the prestigious CAF A Licence Coaching diploma from November 13 to November 20 in Gauteng.
The CAF A-badge is a hallmark event for coaches in South Africa and requires 200 hours of dedicated study. This certification obviously comes at a price and coaches need to cough up R35 000 for the required enrolment fee and carry their own travelling costs.
Ryklief, who graduated with a Caf B license in 2015, admitted there were attempts made in the past to get to this point without any luck.
The 38-year-old Cape Town-born coach, who worked with First Division clubs such as Milano United, Steenberg United and RC Athletico in the past, conceded that finally getting a ‘call up’ now is music to his ears.
“Geewiz, firstly just check out the list of coaches,” Ryklief jokingly said to No Bones with Jones.
“But I guess football is football and all the coaches on the list have a common goal. Look, it has always been a dream of mine to become highly qualified in coaching and nothing has changed. Even during my playing days, I had thoughts already of becoming a qualified coach one day.
“So, this for me is a big achievement and a dream come true especially given where we come from. I’m extremely excited to be a part of that list of top individuals and look forward to learning new things as my coaching journey continues – wish me luck and pray for me,” he added.
Ryklief, who has worked with players like Ebraheem Seedat and Rushine de Reuck, reckons just as footballers train hard on and off the pitch to improve their skills and ability, so too is it incumbent on coaches to upskill themselves in order to make progress in their careers.
“The game from a coaching perspective has evolved immensely over the years and one needs to stay up to date with the modern trends, you know. There are so many aspects to coaching in the modern game.”
Ryklief, who cut his teeth at Devonshire Rovers as an attacking midfielder many moons ago, also had stints with clubs like Wynberg St Johns during his playing days where he later became a coach as well.
He added that over the years he has seen too many coaches making the same mistakes over and over again as they are too fixated with success and the win-at-all-cost factor.
“Success for me is not winning a double and making a big hoo-ha, but rather developing the players and enabling them to grow and develop as footballers and human beings. That holistic approach is very important.
“I always ask myself what my success or trophy is. And that’s getting qualified and promoting players. I have promoted one of my players (Dilorenzo Lombard) from an amateur team to SuperSport (United) and that small success keeps me happy and in the game. Another player Rafael Smile just recently left for Spain. That is my success and what keeps me in the game you know.
“We see top coaches like Pep (Guardiola), (Jose) Mourinho and (Jurgen) Klopp who are highly qualified and have very good personalities which is important to improve players and squads. They obviously became successful on the pitch due to this.”
Ryklief emphasized that his mission on this course is not only to successfully complete it, but also that his success should benefit and inspire more local coaches in the Western Cape to follow suit.
“For me, it is not about pushing agendas as it’s all about me, no. I would want to come back with my qualifications and if there are a couple of coaches that want to talk…like I am very open to talk and you will always see I am friends with many other coaches. I need to give back to the next batch that will go so that I can prepare them and give a heads-up to say get this and that ready…
“It is all about our experiences and about helping one another to grow. I don’t know what the future holds, only the Almighty knows, but I want to do well with the course and take it one step at a time,” Ryklief concluded.
