Mark Ouma soccer Improved physical conditioning and better team cohesion are keys to a better performance by Banyana Banyana in the Africa Women’s Football Championships next month. The two-week competition – which kicks off on November 11 in Johannesburg – features defending champions Nigeria, runners-up Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco, Runion, Uganda, Zimbabwe and hosts South Africa. Two year ago in Nigeria South Africa failed to progress beyond the preliminaries. This time team coach Fran Hilton-Smith is optimistic that Banyana Banyana, who assembled last week in Johannesburg for training leading up to the championships, are serious contenders. “We learned a lot at the first African championships in Nigeria. The top women’s football teams – like Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon, play a very physical game. It became very clear to us that if we were to make an impact on the continent, the team would have to improve their physical conditoning. To this effect, each team member has been attending gym three times a week for strength training. We have laid a special emphasis on upper-body strength training,” says Hilton-Smith. To help translate the gains in the gym to the playing field, Banyana have roped in the men’s under-23 coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba. “I will offer my services as a trainer. The gist of my contribution will be to improve the players’ endurance levels, co-ordination, heading, shooting and ball-control skills,” he says. “Our focus will be to sharpen up on the fundamentals of football. My experience with the Amaglug-glug is that other African teams play a very physical game. What l saw at the Olympics further confirmed the need for players to improve their strength levels. The top women’s teams in the world were able to play a very tactical game only because they where physically strong,” says Mashaba. Besides overall fitness, Hilton-Smith says that building the team into a cohesive unit is a significant improvement that should stand Banyana Banyana in good stead. “This was our main achievement during the tour of the United States in May. We played nine matches during that tour and for the first time we had the team working as a unit over an extended period of time in match situations. “During the next two weeks we will polish up this aspect of our preparations by playing the national boys under-17 team. There are no strong women’s teams in the country that can give Banyana the required match practice. Therefore we will be playing the boys under-17 team as they are also preparing for an African championship. “At present we have 23 players in our provisional team. We are waiting for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to clarify how many players a team can register for the championships. We will then trim the team to either 18, 20 or 22 players,” she says.