Top post for Masupha in Eastern Cape

MASERU – Former Bokamoso coach and player Fako Masupha has scored a big coaching gig after being appointed as the assistant coach for South African side EC Windbreakers.

The club is based in Gqeberha in Eastern Cape and competes in the provincial basketball league. Masupha becomes the first coach to leave the country to go coach a professional team.

Masupha was confirmed on Tuesday by the club and since then he has been flooded with congratulatory messages from his peers. He will be engaged with the club for a year, while he also attends school at the Nelson Mandela University studying Sports Management.

This engagement will not affect his job at the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) but it does end his involvement with the Bokamoso development programme.

Speaking to thepost on Tuesday, Masupha said all the hard work he has been putting in to make himself better has led to this stage, and said he will give his all to the club for as long as he is involved with them.

“I am truly excited and looking forward to it. I am going to give them (my) all.

But you know this nullifies my involvement in Bokamoso but it means more opportunities for players. I am not promising anything but will try to find talent not just in Lesotho but Eswatini and Botswana as well,” he said.

Masupha is still in the country getting his paperwork sorted but has already started working with the club. He said they are preparing for a preseason tournament in Johannesburg before the league starts. He explained how the move came about.

“Some guys in South Africa saw I was over there watching (the Women’s COSAFA Championships earlier this month) and asked me to meet with this club. I said no, but the club contacted me themselves and we started talking,” Masupha said.

“They did a background check and spoke to some guys here at home and, if I am here, it means they said good things,” he said.

There are a lot of players that have left the country to go play in South Africa and Masupha becomes the latest export.

He started playing basketball at a young age in Mafeteng. He was part of the Under-17 team that won a bronze medal at the 2007 COSSASA Games held in Cuba.

Amongst many of his achievements includes five national championships with NUL and Bokamoso as well as being the KWESE All-Star MVP in 2015/16.

Tlalane Phahla