Windhoek
Perennial strugglers in the International Facilities Services-sponsored (IFS) Omaheke Second Division Desert Rollers have turned to club legend Freddy Tlhabanello to guide them out of the relegation zone of the eight-team league.
Desert Rollers have played 12 league games with no victory to date and are languishing at the bottom of the table with a mere point from last season’s draw.
This humiliating state of affairs prompted the executive committee of the sports club, led by Ludwig Crooks Nunuheb, to meet on Tuesday, March 1, where they resolved to appoint former player Frederick Freddy Tlhabanello as head coach with immediate effect. He takes over from Ewald Zuma Kavirombo.
Tlhabanello, who was a player-coach and helped the club reach the Namibia Premier League in the 1997-1998 season, will be deputised by former Eleven Arrows and African Stars player Gideon Pule Noriega Tjombe. Rollers have also roped in former player Jacob Nico Vrede as a fitness trainer, while Siegfried Kooper, a teacher at Gobabis Primary School will be in charge of under-7s to under-10s.
Coach Tlhabanello is a CAF coaching C-License holder and was the Omaheke regional under-17 side coach in 2013. Johannes Halinge was appointed team manager while Hildgard Jebbes Tshipa ia tasked with reviving the netball section of the Gobabis-based sports club.
About the club’s poor performance chairman of the exco Nunuheb said: “We’ve decided to have at least five over-20 players in the team and that is [where] we are getting hammered. We have a lot of youngsters. We needed to start afresh and I must say that results will be coming soon. The discipline level of the boys is good and we can turn the corner very soon.”
Last weekend Rollers lost 4-0 at Leonardville’s Kom Haal Hulle (KHH) before losing 1-0 against Tough Guys to make it 12 games without a win, having conceded 50 goals and scoring 10 all season.