Kgomotso Chiwayo (TuksSport High School) is a self-ascribed jokester, but there is one place he will never joke around, and that is on a football field.
He is just too passionate about the game. The moment he steps onto the field the only thing that matters to is to play to the best of his ability. However, he does not limit this sense of perfection just to himself. As a captain, he can be a hard taskmaster to his teammates. He admits to it.
“I tend to become quite forceful during a game, but I have no malicious intent in doing so. I know my teammates’ potential and all I want is for them is to be the best they can be. I will never ask a player to do something I am not prepared to do myself. I would ‘die’ for any team I play for, and I expect my teammates to do the same.”
Judging by the recent results of the Tuks Under-19 Football Academy Team at the Paris World Games and the Gothia Cup Tournament in Sweden Chiwayo managed to get his teammates to buy into his passionate approach to the game.
He captained the A-side to the final of the Paris World Games. With a bit of luck, they could have won but ended up losing 1-0 to Lusaka Football Academy. The Tuks B-side lost 3-1 in the quarterfinals.
A total of 148 teams competed at the Gothia Cup. The Tuks A-side impressed again by reaching the quarterfinals, but unfortunately for them, they lost against the Lusaka Football Academy for the second time. The Zambian team went on to win the tournament.
Chiwayo described it as a good learning experience.
“In South African football there is no time in the ball. You are sort of under pressure all the time, but in Paris and in Sweden the play tended to be more structured. It meant that we had more time to think as to what we wanted to do.”
The TuksFootball captain’s talents are not restricted to playing football. He used to be quite a good hockey player representing Mpumalanga at a school level.
“I never doubted what I would end up playing. Football has always been my real passion you can say it is in my blood. I have been playing football since I can remember. My first big games were those we played in the streets of the township where I grew up.
"These games were a serious affair. Beforehand every player would put down something as sort of a bet on the outcome of the game. It could be anything . . . an R5 coin. Maybe sweets or a packet of biscuits. There were never any half measures when we played. That is perhaps where I developed my attitude to be the best.”
Next year he is planning on studying maybe marketing or drama at Tuks.
When asked if studying drama would enable him to fake an injury more convincingly during games in an attempt to force a penalty Chiwayo just laughed.
“I enjoy a good joke or prank but there are place and time for it, and as far as I am concerned it is not the football field.”
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