My heart just wants to be with People

Women Soccer News Posted on 2022-10-16 19:48:49

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 Shilene Booysen is a South African currently managing the South Sudanese female national team. In this Interview, she dives deep into her passion and drive towards the sport, current trends in women football in Africa and how it can be remedied.

It isn’t hard to spot Shilene's contagious affection for football when speaking with her. The manner in which she exhaustively tackles questions thrown at her is perhaps as impressive as the shrill tone with which she speaks. One could easily grasp the level of her technical ability evident in her endlessly immersive responses.  

 

Shilene's adventure in women's sport has been unsurprisingly outstanding. Starting as a goalkeeper, she has since moved on to become a goalkeeper trainer, analyst, assistant coach and then a head coach - all within the span of one decade. In hindsight, it appears scarcely believable how she’s achieved this, especially when she reminisced about her childhood days, recanting professions she had initially aspired towards.

 

"I started out wanting to be a teacher, then a doctor, and ended up in engineering". After college, she ventured into engineering, combining playing with working. But, Shilene's dream had always rested on helping and football only, fortunately, provided the means. "My heart just wants to be with people'', she says.

 

Her foray into ascendancy, a move that is gloriously grand comes against the backdrop of painstaking hard work which also provides an antithesis to the existing order. In 2021, she was appointed South Sudan head coach, becoming one of the minutest percentile to move up the ladder as a female.

 

Though the success story enticing, it’s undeniably a combination of diligence, passion and a sustained yearning to make an impact. Indeed, Shilene has paid her dues. Having worked in varying capacities in the US, and recently, South Africa - she saw the daunting task of a head coach as the next step in her career. 

       Shilene, seen smiling, with two of her players in a training session. 

Not only because she desires it but in stark fairness, she’s earned it. Since, working solitarily as the head coach has provided an additional layer of responsibility, opening her eyes into some fairly inadequacies in women's sport and everyday reality in South Sudan. She recounts “Going to South Sudan has opened my eyes to the challenges people have in life. It is a really poor country. ‘I think 80%-90% of people don’t have formal jobs. They sell things on the street. It was a culture shock for me to see what was going on there, but once I got to meet the people, I was lost … I fell in love with them. I still feel like that, I’m still excited and passionate about doing what I can to help as many people as I can’.

Pictured coaching a friendly match in Sudan.

 

Shilene, sure has a mouthful of things to say about the growth of women's and the accompanying comparison with men. " The speed of play has improved greatly. The physical prowess of players where they can maintain the higher the work rates for greater lengths of the time in the matches that they play in’. In the 2022 AWCON, the level of female football in Africa was significantly raised, and it is expected to continue.

 

However, one area lacking adequate attention is the level of investment and reduced marketable appeal to mens. 'The marketing aspect’ she says, is still developing. While it has not evolved as wished, she’s expectant of a potential positive trend. “There has been a lot of improvement in all aspects of the women’s game over the last couple of years so I think if we market the product correctly, we will see greater sponsorship and financial injections into the game” she says.

 

Female football in Africa is still largely primitive and often, players complain of lack of even basic hygienic items. In light of female sport idiosyncrasy, she believes more women coaches are needed. "I think we need more women in the female game because we can be identified with".

 

With Bright Starlets, as the South Sudan National team are fondly called, Shilene's been able to foster an intimate relationship with her players, more so, as a woman as she understands their closeted ordeals given that she's also played. "Women react differently to games than men''. She says.

 

Due to lack of enough and an insufficient exposure to football education, men have been a more suitable choice as a coach than women. Shilene, however, believes this trend could change. ‘I think female coaches are not given the same support as male coaches so they always seem to be under pressure to succeed or perform.  She believes understanding women's game as women provides the key to unlocking infinite possibilities in women's sport and thinks her role should form the ideal in this field.

 

"I think there could be more women coaches, especially for women’s teams. Just in talking to some female footballers, their biggest desire is always to be coached to the highest level. Not all but many male coaches will not push female players in fear of overtraining and that sometimes lead to under training the play".

 

With the leverage of being a woman, she's been able to assemble a squad in her image, imposing her philosophy that permeates their style of play. South Sudan, although still a fringe in women’s football, are gradually rising up the ranks. Shilene's enthusiasm in giving a remarkable stance is seen in her optimism. It is evident she wants to make a difference, a distinguishable impact on women's football in Africa.

 

This explains why Shilene's passion extends beyond her personal ambition - her coaching philosophy is centered on the primacy of players' development as she often looks forward to transferring  her ideals into the psyche of her players. While the terrain might be presently rough, Shilene is poised to challenge the odds.

 

Follow Shilene Booysen on all social media handles;

 

● Instagram: Shileneb

● Twitter: ShileneBooysen

● Facebook: ShileneBooysen

 

Go!