What has made ‘intelligent’ Rulani Mokwena successful at young age
"First of all, the guy is unbelievably intelligent. He has brains."
Mamelodi Sundowns first-team coach Steve Komphela has revealed the one reason that has made Rulani Mokwena successful at a young age.
At the age of 36, the Mamelodi Sundowns gaffer, Rulani Mokwena, has risen above waters to be the best-performing coach in the DStv Premiership.
Considering how he has fared, there is no doubt that the Johannesburg-born mentor will clinch the 2022/23 season coach of the year award.
The former Orlando Pirates mentor took full charge of the Tshwane giants in October last year as Komphela became the first team.
Manqoba Mngqithi was redeployed to become the senior coach, a position that Komphela previously occupied.
Under Mokwena’s leadership, Sundowns are sitting pretty at the summit of the standings with 56 points from 22 games.
They had a remarakble run of 15 consecutive wins in the DStv Premiership before playing out to a 1-1 draw against Stellenebosch.
Mokwena has also been credited for unleashing the league’s man-of-the-moment, Cassius Mailula.
Above all, it is how Mokwena has mastered team management that has left veteran coach Komphela abuzz.
HOW RULANI HAS MASTERED TEAM MANAGEMENT
Komphela waxed lyrical about how his head coach, Mokwena, has mastered the art of managing the different team dynamics.
“First of all, the guy is unbelievably intelligent. He has brains, brains, brains. You never get into coaching and succeed at a young age without brains,” said Komphela.
“He is a genius. Unfortunately, in modern management, it’s not really about the capability to do your job, to be a great tactician, Its about the other dynamics around you.
“One friend of mine, Roger De Sá once said, 90% of what the coach earns is about everything that happens around him and only 10% is what they do on the pitch.
“I think coach Rulani has mastered that. He is very calm, calculative. He sees things in time and has the wisdom and ability to respond appropriately.”
Komphela concedes that being Sundowns’ head coach is a herculean task.
However, he applauded Mokwena that he handled the task with aplomb.
“Its not easy to be head coach at Sundowns, in fact any big team but managing that is one of the primary objectives. You have to be careful because whatever you say goes.
“Unfortunately in the modern world, what you say can make you go. If you want to rectify, it gets worse so you have to be carefully what you’re going to say. And he has mastered that,” he added.
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