Pule Khojane says he is loving the experience working as the Lesotho Senior Women’s national team coach following his appointment to lead Mehalalitoe in April.
Khojane, who holds the CAF A License coaching badge, admitted that he had sleepless nights after he was approached by Lesotho Football Association to take over the job.
“To be honest, at first I did not feel like I could do the job. I have always been in men’s teams all my life and switching to women’s football scared me,” Pule said.
“I thought of the psychological and the emotional change. I also got worried about the way of play. I was very sceptical, but I did not say no to the Technical Director when he approached me.”
The Berea born coach believes working with the technical team that was already in the Mehalalitoe set-up helped him to hit the ground running in his new role.
“The response from the training sessions have been in a way I wasn’t expecting. At the beginning I thought, no, I shouldn’t continue with this project before it’s too late,” Khojane stated.
“But because I love challenges, I decided to continue and in three weeks’ time, I started to see the difference, though it was a slow change, but there was change and it helped me to get my groove back.
“I have been doing a lot of research on women football and I’m also learning a lot from coach KB because she has been there as a player, our goalkeeper coach as part of the technical team and the team manager as a player and administrator,” he said.
Khojane reckons Mehalalitoe are still a work in progress but is confident of a successful chapter working with a group of young and experienced players.
“We are building a new team made of young players and a few experienced players. They are brave; they work hard, they are hungry and willing to make a difference,” the Mehalalitoe coach says.
“We will not be going to competitions to add numbers but to compete. That’s what I see from the players,” he concludes.