To prove that they are serious about promotion, Black Leopards have beefed up their technical department by appointing Mr Blessing Mtetwa as the team's conditioning coach. His appointment comes days after Lidoda duvha announced the appointment of the former head coach of Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM), Mr Johnny Ferreira, to the position of head coach of the team.
The chairman of Black Leopards, Mr David Thidiela, is adamant that the appointment of Mr Ferreira and Mr Mtetwa is a move that will make things easier for the team to achieve their set goals. He revealed that their target is to finish their league programme on top of the log and gain automatic promotion to the DStv Premiership Division.
Thidiela said that they would settle for any position that would take them through to the promotional playoffs in case their dream of gaining automatic promotion did not become a reality. When asked to unpack the duties of a conditioning coach, Thidiela said that some of Mtetwa's day-to-day duties included the designing of training programmes, providing instructions on exercises, supervision of training sessions, evaluation of players and teaching of fitness skills.
Thidiela said that Mtetwa had been recommended by the senior coach of the team, Mr Rodwell Dhlakama. Mtetwa is a Zimbabwean national and he had worked with Dhlakama at a number of Zimbabwean professional football clubs for several years.
As far as the team's set goals for the year were concerned, Thidiela was still optimistic that these could be achieved. He said that they were left with 18 matches to play before the end of the season. Black Leopards are currently lying in the third position from the bottom of the log with 10 points. They had scored nine goals and conceded 16 in the 12 games they had played to date. The other Vhembe-based side, Venda Football Academy, is perched in the second-last position with the same number of points. Polokwane City are leading the pack with 25 points.