AT 56, Zimbabwe’s only Confederation of African Football (CAF) goalkeepers’ coaching instructor Richard Tswatswa’s memory of his life’s best and worst moments could be diminishing.
BY ALBERT MARUFU
However, he vividly recalls a newspaper headline entitled, “Unknown to play in the Cup final” in the buildup to the 1974’s Castle Cup in which he was set to play in place of Booker Muchenu who was not feeling well.
The match was going to be the then 17-year-old’s debut appearance in the Super League, but as fate would have it, he also fell seriously ill resulting in the team’s coaching department recalling back Muchenu.
“My main disappointment is that I did not play in the Premier League. I got a chance to play in the Cup final for Chibuku Shumba and unfortunately, I got seriously ill on a Friday and Muchenu recovered in time to play the match.
“I, however, still feel the excitement I felt then when newspapers talked of an ‘unknown’ who was set to play in the final,” said Tswatswa at his offices at City of Harare’s Housing Department in Mbare.
However, the drawback did not deter him from his chosen career and he returned to his native Division One side ProNutro FC until his retirement from active playing in 1983.
“Goalkeeping is my passion and I have never played in any position since my school days at St Peters Kubatana in Kambuzuma. That is why I took it upon myself to train other goalkeepers’ and goalkeepers’ coaches after retiring from active playing in 1983,” he said.
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Though he became a head coach at ProNutro FC after his retirement from playing, Tswatswa said training goalkeepers will always be his passion.
“I do not want to be a head coach because it will confuse me. I will be doing a disservice to the club owners because I might spend three days of training with goalkeepers and forget the other departments. I am particular about the development of goalkeepers and a goalkeepers’ coach should know his position, thereby avoiding friction,” he said.
Tswatswa, who has had stints at Dynamos, Arcadia United, Motor Action and CAPS United, said right now the development of goalkeepers is being hampered by wrong methods being used.
“I do not believe in putting a 10-year-old in between big posts as big as those at Rufaro stadium. It discourages young goalkeepers because goals will be scored against them. They end up preferring to be infield players and in the process we lose potential goalkeepers. I think young boys should play half the pitch with cones as goal posts,” he said.
Tswatswa, who has had unsuccessful stints as the Under-20 and Under-23 as goalkeepers’ coach, added that the young boys should be subjected to different regimes of training depending on their ages.
“There are six components that are important in the respective age groups. Under-nine players should just learn to master basic ball handling techniques which is paramount at that stage while Under-10 and 11 players should learn to master ball handling with more emphasis on tenchnique and insight. Those in the Under-12 and 13 categories should learn the position and basic tasks of a goalkeeper.
Under-14s and 15s should be taught how these basic tasks link together with the Under-16s being taught the role of a goalkeeper within a team. They should marshall the defence. The Under-17s and 18s should venture into the bigger picture of goalkeepeing. From there we will be home and dry,” he said.
The towering 1,89m goalkeepers’ coach, however, said height plays a major role in the sport, especially these days when a goalkeeper had more freedom with the ball.
“I do not have a problem with the Japhet Muparutsa-type of goalkeepers who were short, but did exceptionally well. During our time, we were line goalkeepers concentrating on catching the ball.
Today they are supposed to help infield players in attack and height plays a part in coming back to save the ball,” said the former Warriors goalkeepers’ coach.
