Gary Benham

241 days to go - Guest Blogger - Bafana Bafana Legend!

Its international week.  On Saturday South Africa (Bafana Bafana) lost 1-0 to Norway but have another friendly, against Iceland, on Wednesday.  It is therefore very appropriate that I introduce my first guest blogger - drum role please .......

Andre Arendse is a local legend, having won 67 international caps as, arguably, the best goal keeper South Africa has ever produced.  He represented his country at two World Cups and won the African Cup of Nations with Bafana Bafana in 1996.  He made over 400 professional club appearances, including spells at Santos FC of Cape Town and Fulham FC in London.  Andre retired in 2009 having won back to back Premier Soccer League (PSL) Championships with Supersport Utd of Pretoria.

Goalkeeping legend Andre Arendse talks to a short fat bloke from the British High Commission!

Since retiring Andre has co-founded the local NGO,  Safe Hands Soccer (SHS).

Andre puts some budding goalies through their paces in Alexandra township

He tells us a bit about the project here:

"Safe Hands Soccer is a forward thinking, progressive and holistic soccer development company. SHS moves beyond pure skills training and supports the overall development of the player by offering all elements of soccer development such as: Elite sports mental conditioning; soccer specific body conditioning - agility, explosive power and strengthening; professional skills development and structured training; soccer specific nutritional support; player personal development - life skills, education and life outside sport and player career development and support.

SHS is committed to the overall development of soccer and specifically to the development from the grass roots level as SHS acknowledges that this is where the future soccer stars are born. SHS is not a club and as stated above is focused in the overall development of South African soccer by offering support services.

Andre with future Bafana Bafana stars?

The major focus for SHS is the element of active talent spotting, however this is not enough as once that talent is identified the extra support of nurturing and developing that talent is needed. SHS is involved in multiple areas of soccer development including;
goalkeeper open evenings training, one on one goalkeeper coaching with me (amateur to elite); soccer clinics and workshops; specialist soccer training at schools/universities/clubs (support coaches & players) and community soccer projects."

Click here to find our more about SHS.

Posted at 11:21 12 October 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[1]