Ongama Gcwabe shares his experience of attending the 2019 edition of the Powerade Performance Academy.

The Powerade Performance Academy is an initiative aimed at providing the best possible platform for coaches by giving them guidance and tactical advice, therewith improving the talent that we have in South Africa.

Although it was launched between 2015 and 2016, the journey began in 2013 and 2014 when Powerade ran the national “Collect a Cap” competition at schools.

The schools were tasked with collecting as many Powerade caps as possible over a given period and the fraternity that had collected the most caps would win the competition.

The winning school received a Powerade Performance session with experts like John Mitchell and Neil Tovey.

In order to reach as many coaches as possible, the Powerade Performance Academy was launched.

The 2019 edition, which was held in Port Elizabeth, had a mouth-watering line-up – Host Neil Andrews (Supersport presenter), Malibongwe Maketa (Assistant Coach of the Proteas), Verlie Oosthuizen (Attorney), John McGrath (High-performance coach) and Kass Naidoo (Journalist, Cricket Commentator).

Maketa’s Presentation was based on Coaching a Diverse Team, which is a trait that is almost endemic to South Africa since we are a Rainbow Nation.

Oosthuizen emphasised the importance of knowing the Do’s and Don’ts of social media as a coach, player and generally as a member of society who is active on social media.

Mcgrath, who is South African athlete Luvo Manyonga’s high-performance coach, presented a topic that was based on changing the sports paradigms. While Kass Naidoo talked about “Six of the Best” routines for success.

The Powerade Performance Academy was a great experience and a great success for all the coaches that attended the event, who were gifted the opportunity to receive invaluable advice from the experts mentioned above.

They also got a chance to meet other coaches from around the Eastern Cape region and share advice amongst each other.

Even for me as a writer, it was fruitful to listen to what the experts had to say, especially Malibongwe’s presentation – I found it eye-opening.

His presentation gave me a glimpse of what it means to coach in South Africa and to be involved in the Proteas set-up. The challenges that coaches in South Africa must face is something many of us in the media and the fans forget.

What I found special in Maketa’s presentation was when he emphasised the importance of getting to know your players as a coach, going the extra mile in trying to understand their interests outside cricket.

He emphasised that it was important also for the players to get to know you, to make them comfortable around you so that the team environment is an environment where every individual is free to communicate their ideas with the team.

Many writers dream to be around such an awesome group of individuals in Maketa, Oosthuizen, McGrath and Naidoo.

The difference between me and those writers is that I can now say “I’ve been there and done that”, thanks to Powerade and Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

Ongama Gcwabe is a sports journalist and the owner of 100mph_CSA.Follow him on – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.