Tekoetsile Korae: "I Want to Coach in Different Sporting Codes"

Tekoetsile Johannes Korae, 28, from Itsoseng in Ditsobotla local municipality in the North West province, began his education at Tshwarang-thata Primary in Taung and afterwards went to Lore Primary School in Itsoseng in 2006. He then attended Popagano Middle School in 2007 and Baitshoki High School in 2013.

TeeKay, as he is known, has had a love for football since he was in school and has always wanted to be a coach, which is why he started coaching young boys under 13 in his area just after matric and started his own team named Ciquar FC with three divisions (under 13, 15, and 19) and a Senior Ladies Team, which he wants to see his players get an opportunity to play for bigger teams. He subsequently went on to study coaching at North West University, where he obtained his Diploma. He acquired his coaching D Licence in 2018 and is currently on the verge of receiving his coaching C Licence.

Now that he has seen so many talent across Itsoseng, with lack of coaches, he now wants to add more experience in coaching as he wants to explore to other sporting codes.

We had a chat with him about his journey and future goals in sports.

Teekay thanks very much for chatting to us, tell us about your coaching journey and what inspired you?

Sure Bro Shakes. My coaching journey started in 2014 just after I finished my matric. I coached young boys aged 6 to 15 (Shinnings Stars FC) from 2014 until 2016. Then I started my own team Ciquar FC, which is still running under Ditsobotla Local Football Association DILFA.

And yeah I was inspired by the talent I’ve seen especially from the team I coached. I then had the willingness to share the experience and to pass the tactics to others.

Tell us more about the Boys and Ladies, Ciquar FC, since it has different divisions. What are the challenges you facing and are you willing to start an academy and where do you want to see yourself with them?

I have Boys and Girls from Verdwaal (Neighbouring Village) as well as here in Itsoseng, and as most of them are still in school. It’s quite challenging that we don’t have funds to sustain the teams and that results in other players no longer playing, others joining other teams and yeah: it’s my dream to see myself establishing a well known football academy. I want to see the players growing up under my leadership and getting a chance of playing professional football.

Great! And now you want to explore to other sporting codes such as Tennis, Cricket. How did you end up having interest in those codes, what did you see there?

Well as I went through coaching, I saw that there’s a lot of talent in Itsoseng and mostly in the boys I’ve worked with. That’s where I realised that we need someone to nurture this talent and thus I want to obtain coaching in Tennis as well as cricket so that I help other kids to showcase their talent and present themselves to the world of sports.

And how are you going to manage, having to deal with Soccer, Tennis and cricket at the same time. Don’t you think it will put so much pressure or even defocus you from managing your Boys?

The pressure will be there yeah, but I’m willing to dedicate myself to developing young boys and girls until I find people with same interests as mine so we continue working together.

There’s youth out there who want to pursue their dreams in the world of sports; and it’s difficult. What advice can you give them so that they never stop believing?

I can only tell them to never stop praying for better days. It is possible.

Photo: Tekoetsile Korae: "I Want to Coach in Different Sporting Codes"(supplied)