Kaitano Tembo retraces roots

By Petros Kausiyo

SuperSport United legend and former Zimbabwe vice-captain Kaitano Tembo is set to retrace his football roots by ploughing back to the local communities that helped shape him into a feared defender for both club and country.

Tembo now an assistant coach at SuperSport has rolled out a programme in which he will source football equipment from his partners in South Africa which will be distributed to schools in Zimbabwe.

It is part of a build-up to the launch of a bigger project — The Kaitano Tembo Foundation — which the former Dynamos centre back is setting up as he looks to revisit the path he travelled when growing up in the dusty streets of Kadoma.

Tembo will begin his programme by donating kit and equipment to schools in Harare and Kadoma whose identities are being finalised. But it is the grand plan to help develop the game on a bigger scale which Tembo is focusing much of his energies on with the former defence stalwart having fallen in love with youth football after spending the early part of his coaching years working with young talent as SuperSport United development mentor.

Despite the pressure of the SuperSport job limiting him from making frequent visits back home to have an opportunity to take time to coach the young players in his home country, Tembo believes that he can still play a role in developing local talent by empowering them with equipment.

The envisaged Kaitano Tembo Foundation will, however, be a national project that is aimed at helping underprivileged children to realise their football dreams.

“I felt I have not given back to my country or the community that supported me throughout my career so I would like to use my influence to help make it a better world for the young and upcoming players.

“I am an assistant coach at SuperSport United and I have coached their academy and I would like to extend this beyond just coaching, but do projects that help nurture and develop talent in my country and working with schools could be a good starting point.

“This is a starting point for the Kaitano Tembo Foundation that will support the development of football in Zimbabwe. So it is my personal conviction that I must come back to the people who supported me career-wise and our football can go far if we can put in strategies that can help us,’’ Tembo said. The proposed foundation, Tembo also said, would not be limited to just catering for young boys, but would also help develop the “Girl Child who has dreams of playing for the Mighty Warriors one day’’.

Tembo was first appointed SuperSport United Under-17 coach in November 2007, a year after a recurrent knee injury had forced him to call time on his playing career. He had made more than 200 appearances including continental matches for Matsantsansa.

A tough as teak defender at the peak of his playing powers, Tembo also won the 1997 domestic championship with Dynamos and helped them to secure a place in the Champions League group stage the following year.

He, however, signed for Gavin Hunt’s Seven Stars in the 1998-99 season and left DeMbare before they would go on to reach the Champions League final in which they lost 4-2 on aggregate to Asec Mimosa.

Tembo’s class at DeMbare included the likes of current Warriors coach Callisto Pasuwa, Claudius Zviripayi, Masimba Dinyero, Memory Mucherahowa, Gift Muzadzi, Makwinji Soma-Phiri, Lloyd Mutasa and Chamu Musanhu.

Now after cutting his coaching teeth as a development coach, Tembo wants Zimbabwe’s often neglected junior policy come into fruition while anchored on support for the schools.

“It is very important that we develop from the grassroots level. During our time the school game was very competitive and it helped us to develop into the kind of players that we later became and it built our characters.

“That is what this project is all about . . . for us to go back where it started. Even the school coaches need development and it is something that we are seriously considering, but for now we will just assist them with equipment.

“Having worked with young players I know that sometimes it is demoralising for the kids that there is only one ball to use so if there is equipment like playing kits and balls, especially balls which are very important it will help them to play’’.

Tembo also noted that the majority of the children in the communities such as that of Rimuka where he grew up do not have easy access into football academies. “There are more academies now than they were when we grew up, but still we do have a challenge in that some of the academies ask for payment and the less privileged cannot afford to enrol in such an academy yet they would be having the potential’’.

Having seen how such partnerships between SuperSport United and English Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur helped junior development in Pretoria, Tembo is poised to make a difference when he rolls out his project. The Herald