Former Kaizer Chiefs, AmaZulu FC, SuperSport United and Platinum Stars head coach Cavin Johnson has set his sights on a development centre in Gauteng, inspired by FC Barcelona and Al Ahly.
Johnson is recognised as one of Mzansi’s iconic youth experts, having begun his development career in the early 90s at the revered Transnet School of Excellence, where he famously unearthed Steven Pienaar, among other players.
The Johannesburg-born coach later moved south to serve as the Chief Scout at Ajax Cape Town’s esteemed Ikamva.
His experience was later definitive at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Academy, where he built the Platinum Stars pipeline that produced players such as Gift Links and Kobamelo Kodisang.
Johnson also enjoyed a tenure in Tshwane as Mamelodi Sundowns’ Head of Youth, and most recently worked as Kaizer Chiefs’ Head of Academy.
FARPost recently caught up with Johnson to learn about his latest venture to develop tomorrow’s stars.
CAVIN JOHNSON: IT’S ABOUT BUILDING OLYMPIANS
“The project is a multi-coded sports complex,” Johnson told FARPost. “I want to start it with the communities in Florida, Roodepoort and Soweto. These are your low-income areas. It is a project for me that is not to build footballers; it is about football. Football is one of the codes, but it is about building Olympians.
“I think we don’t… I think at the moment we have different types of facilities, but we don’t have a facility that specifically looks to build Olympians, if you understand what I’m saying,” the former School of Excellence and Ajax Cape Town academy coach explained.
BARCELONA IS A SPORT CLUB INSTEAD OF A FOOTBALL CLUB
“I want to develop a Barcelona, if you think about it. Not many people know this: Barcelona is a sporting club rather than a football club. Al Ahly is a sporting club, not a football club.
“The idea is to try to open up as many opportunities as possible for the kids, for the underprivileged children. We aim to keep them grounded as long as we can. That is, before they can enter a professional or high-performance environment.
“I am looking at the holistic approach to athletes. For example, what do you do with a 17-year-old athlete when you tell him he is not good enough to make it? This is the devastating news many kids have to face. You were told from the age of seven that you were going to make it, but were suddenly told the opposite at 17? How do kids handle that? This centre will be able to do that.
“Oftentimes, kids face this news and end up turning to alcohol and drugs. They face depression and things like that. We are looking to get funding,” Johnson concluded.
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