WE NEED MORE FEMALE COACHES IN AFRICA. – PEARL TSITSI MOOKETSI
▫️ Botswana leads the way in grooming female coaches in Africa
While the number of active women boxers in Africa has shot up, the same cannot be said on coaches.
This was evidenced during the recent Mandela African Boxing Cup tournament in Durban, South Africa where out of the 24 countries which took part, only two female coaches, Botswana’s Pearl Tsitsi Mooketsi and South Africa’s Nelisiwe Luthuli,
accompanied their teams.
“Women coaches are still few worldwide. In Africa, I’ve seen two from South Africa, Tunisia, Nigeria and Botswana only,” laments Mooketsi, the seniormost female coach in Botswana who’s also one of the pioneer female boxers.
She is however not surprised by the small number of female coaches in Africa.
“I wasn’t really surprised we were just the two of us in Durban because even at world level competitions, I have only seen maybe three or four women coaches at the corner. Mostly it’s men at the corner even in women’s world championships.
“It shows we’re lagging behind in terms of women boarding the coaching ship,” says Mooketsi who is full of praise for the head coach of Botswana’s national team, Thebe Setlalekgosi for his support since she became his assistant in 2022, an assignment which has seen Mooketsi travelling widely. Among the countries she has visited include Mozambique, South Africa, England, Zambia, Ghana and Wales.
Says Mooketsi on Setlalekgosi: “He’s been quite supportive with me as his assistant. I have learnt so much under his leadership. He has allowed me to grow and be the best of myself. People working together will always have different opinions on certain issues at some point but we have always found a common ground towards achieving the best we could.”
Setlalekgosi, a Star 3 coach, is not impressed by the few number of women coaches in Africa .
“It’s not good at all for our sport, a bad sign that we are not doing enough as a continent to develop our women coaches,” he says.
“We really need to up our game and empower our women because I know they are capable of doing well and moving up the ladder.”
In addition to Mooketsi, other prominent women coaches in Botswana are
Star 1 Grace Mmolai, Kario Khumo and Masengo Pelopedi both of whom are national level one coaches.
Unlike some countries where women coaches are ignored and are mostly treated like flower girls with hardly any meaningful role, the secretary-general of Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA), Taolo Tlouetsile, says they attach a lot importance to the role played by the women coaches and goes on to elaborate how they deploy them.
“Kario was part of our 2018 African Union Sports Council Region 5 team in Gaborone, ” says Tlouetsile.
“Grace was part of the 2020 AUSC Region 5 team in Maseru, Lesotho, and Masego was in the 2022 AUSC Region 5 entourage in Lilongwe, Malawi.
“Tsitsi is with the senior team and the only one so far there as well as being the technical advisor of our association.
“At Mandela, we also sent one female R&J for Star 2 course. We hope she’ll get positive results. If she passes, she’ll be the first female Star 2 R&J in Botswana.”
Head coach Setlalekgosi is impressed by Mooketsi’s progress.
“We are developing her, and she’s got what it takes to be at the top. Tsitsi was also among our first female boxers in Botswana and fortunately she works for Botswana National Sports Commission as a Sports Development Officer
“I coached her together with her would-be husband, they were all my boxers in the national team.
“I have been with the national team as a coach since 2004. I have done it all, from zonal to the Olympics, I have played my part, it’s about time I leave a legacy, not only on winning medals but producing confident young coaches. I’m here to guide them and see them develop, that is why you see me out of the ring so that I personally monitor how they go about their job when in the ring.
“Just like boxers, even coaches need to be groomed and develop their confidence. I was with two coaches in Durban, the other one was mostly behind the scenes doing bandaging and guiding the boxers in warm-up before they go into the ring. He’s is a Star 2 coach and is called Gibson Rauwe.”
Setlalekgosi is of the opinion that to encourage more women into coaching, national federations should introduce them before they quit active boxing.
“For any country that needs to develop women coaches,” says the Botswana national team head coach, “you need to introduce them to coaching when they’re still active as boxers, probably towards the end of their careers so that they connect well with coaching. The moment you let them retire, it’s not easy to get them back.
“I was lucky to have been introduced into coaching at 23 years when I was at my peak as a boxer, the Cuban coach saw something in me and he invited me to a coaching class he was conducting and the rest is history. I got my Star 3 certificate 12 yrs ago.”
Mooketsi also feels apart from being introduced to coaching while still active in boxing, women boxers themselves should show keen interest to become coaches.
“In bringing more women on board as coaches,” says Mooketsi, “It should start with the women themselves. Their commitment, passion, personal initiative and dedication to the sport are crucial to get them started. And maybe also when AFBC runs courses for coaching they should put a quota for women and men to be trained in the particular course.
“It’s also important to mention that not all former women boxers will be coaches. Some will have more skills on other aspects of the sport like administration. So for those with passion and skills for coaching they should go for it, same for those with required qualities in the administration part of the sport.
“I do not have facts with regards to why other countries do not have women coaches but in my country Botswana women who show interest in coaching are given opportunities to flourish. And with funds permitting, they will continue training them.”
Are some men threatened by the presence of women in boxing such that some don’t want to impart the coaching skills to the women?, I ask Mooketsi.
“Well, it takes a great man and a visionary to support a woman if he believes she is capable of doing something, even better than him without feeling threatened by her. I have been groomed and mentored by men all my career both as a boxer, coach and sports person, and given my progress so far as a coach I would say these men (my fellow coaches, my federation), have done a great job to guide me. I learn and improve every day. And I am grateful for their faith in me and giving me these opportunities to do my job.
“People really appreciate our presence as women coaches. Like I said before to thrive in something that’s rather “not a norm” in our countries is not easy. But as much as I was one of the first women to play boxing in my country, sure now as one of the few female coaches in the continent, I am hopeful women in other African countries will see the possibility of becoming coaches and join us.”
As a boxer, Mooketsi represented the national team from 2012 to 2016. She talks fervently on her achievements in the ring.
“I won five Africa zonal silvers and bronze at continental level, and I was in the top eight at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. I boxed at 69kg in zonals and 75kg in the Commonwealth Games.”
Mooketsi started boxing in 2010 at Glen Valley Boxing Club, a military club.
“I was first coached by a gentleman called Dirang Thipe, I was with him briefly then coach Khumiso Ikgopoleng and Thebe Setlalekgosi took over.”
Who inspired her to take up boxing in 2010?
“Absolutely no one. At the time we did not have women boxing in my country, and it was something new that I wanted to try and instantly I fell in love with boxing.”
Mooketsi will never forget the input of Irene Ntelemo who introduced women’s boxing in Botswana when she was the deputy secretary-general of Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA). Little wonder she’s been branded The Mother of Women’s Boxing in Botswana. Ntelemo also served as BoBA secretary-general, a member of IBA women’s commission and currently she’s the chairperson of the Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC) Women and Diversity Committee.
Says Mooketsi on Ntelemo’s push for the introduction of women’s boxing: “Having someone advocate for something that has never been tried is quite a challenge, but she did put up a good fight for us to establish and launch women boxing in Botswana.
“We will forever be grateful for her efforts. Her word of encouragement has always been to work hard, and reminds us even though this is a male-dominated sport, we must strive to build a good reputation for ourselves as women in boxing.”
Mooketsi is now a proud mother of a 16-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl.
Boxing has not only brought her success in the ring and life in general but also enabled her meet her loving husband who was also a boxer.
“We met in boxing, we were teammates, became best friends and ultimately got married. He’s quite loving and supportive.”
On whether she would like her children to follow in their footsteps, Mooketsi says:”I don’t have any preference to what sport they play even if it’s boxing but none of them has shown interest in boxing so far.”
I then ask Mooketsi who would win if there’s a fight between her and the father of her children taking into account both are former boxers.
(Bursts into laughter) She just can’t see this happening.
“That’s impossible to imagine, never in my home, we’re peaceful people,” she says.
For now the sky remains the limit in Mooketsi’s pursuit of success in coaching. Who knows. She could be the next head coach of Botswana’s national boxing team.
📸 Coach Pearl Tsitsi Mooketsi in the ring sharing his wealth of boxing knowledge with boxer Rajab Otukile Mahomed as head coach Thebe Setlalekgosi closely monitors from outside the ring.
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