Khojane embracing Mehalalitoe challenge

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.