A few days after he was appointed as Young Africans assistant coach, Charles Boniface Mkwasa has hailed the discipline shown by his players during training in preparation for the forthcoming Mainland Premier League’s second leg and CAF Champions League.
Charles Boniface Mkwasa
Mkwasa, alias ‘Master’, who was appointed to the post early last week after the Jangwani Street based club decided to disband its technical bench, said in Dar es Salaam that he is impressed by the discipline demonstrated by both local and international players of the club during three-day training sessions under his reign.
“So far everything is going smoothly as planned and I am highly impressed by the high degree of discipline displayed by the players since I took charge here.
They arrive at the ground and attend training on time as required and to any coach that is a good sign,” he said. Mkwasa said that he has made some few changes in the training programme since he rejoined the club, which he served with distinctions in the 1980’s as a player and later as a coach.
He said the team’s current training session time has been shifted from morning to the evening, abandoning the earlier routine of former Dutch head coach Ernie Brandts whose contract was terminated last year.
“I have made minor changes on the training session routine…we currently train in the evening only and this is due to various reasons including traffic jam as we are training off camp,” Mkwasa said.
“The changes enable players to reach the training ground on time compared to when we trained in the morning and since we adopted the changes things are going well,” he added.
When asked about his training programmes for the forthcoming Mainland League’s second phase and the CAF Champions League, Mkwasa said currently he has a temporary programme for the team as a fully fledged programme will be drawn and implemented by the head coach, who is expected to be appointed very soon.
“You know at present I am just the acting head coach pending the appointment of a person who will take the post. I have no mandate to prepare a full programme of the team’s training but at the moment, I have a temporary schedule which I’m employing,” he said.
The former Ruvu Shooting coach, who replaced Fred Felix ‘Minziro’ whose contract with the club was terminated last year, is working hand in hand with famous former national team, Taifa Stars, Yanga and Pan African goalkeeper Juma Pondamali, who substituted Razack Siwa as goalkeepers’ trainer.
Meanwhile, FADHILI AKIDA reports that Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL), who are main sponsors of the country’s two football giants Simba and Yanga through it Kilimanjaro Premier Lager brand, handed over sports gear worth 60m/- to the two clubs to boost their preparations for the Mainland Premier League, second leg which kicks off on January 25.
Speaking at a brief handing over ceremony in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Kilimanjaro Premium Lager Brand Manager George Kavishe thanked the leaders of both clubs for abiding by their sponsorship contract and urged them to utilize appropriately the gears in the coming assignments.
By BETRAM LENGAMA, Tanzania Daily News
