Tall enough to be a basketball player but an even stellar Left Center Back

Romeo “Walaza” Molale the 23 year old from Northern cape - Kimberley studying Officiating and Coaching at Tshwane University of Technology(TUT) is more than just a student but a footballer as well. Romeo plays left center back for TUT’s high performance team, call him jersey number 16.

As a student athlete studying officiating and coaching helped him to find the link between what he studies theoretically and what he does every day after class that is understanding the tactics and techniques of the beautiful game, he further added that “it also teaches one to know and understand that sports isn’t just a game but about sportsmanship on and off the field of play”.

To ensure that both his academics and football performance don’t suffer, he has found a way to help him balance the two, “I make sure that I am up before sunrise to get my mind and body awake, and top that off with minor activities to keep my mind activated for my classes then study at night after training”

Romeo was introduced to football at the age of nine (9) by one of the coaches in Kimberley Kagisho. “Football isn’t easy, it is useless when you’re playing on a wrong platform” he said, when asked what he meant with the statement his response was “ I came a long way, and was trying to impress the coach which lead me to doing a lot of mistakes, I learnt that in the field you just have to be yourself, always. Once you have the winning spirit within you burning nothing will stop you from winning all the trophies that you want.”

Following all the great teams that Molale has played for from White City FC, Tshwaragano FC, Galeshewe United and Real Madrid FC (local team), when he got to TUT it was a totally a different space seeing that it is currently the best football team when it comes to Universities of Technology in Africa. When asked about transition he answered “TUT is more of a professional team where things are done according to the book that is the game plan, physiological factors and how to deal with emotions”.

There comes Varsity football tournament the most student anticipated football tournament, playing in the Varsity football tournament has to be any university football player’s dream, Walaza made his debut Varsity football tournament appearance in 2017 explaining his debut he said “When playing in the Varsity football tournament for the first time it is very difficult because it is a very big stage for a young star who wishes to play in major leagues”.

In 2018 he formed part of the top eighteen (18) selected to represent the university and contributed to TUT winning the 2018 Varsity football tournament Championship and in 2019 it was not different, yet again he got to form part of the team to represent the university in the Varsity football tournament but this time he went in as an even more experienced player “Going into the Varsity football tournament I told myself that this is the time I have been waiting for. I mean for two years I have been waiting for a chance to see myself play a good game, not just play but to also receive awards for my performance but that was just me day dreaming” he said. Even with the negative results that he and his team got from the tournament (Varsity Football tournament second runner up), throughout the tournament Romeo truly had his head in the game that he played well and got himself a “Man of the Match” award in the game played between his team and University of Johannesburg (UJ). With every game that they have to play, he always ensures to think of all the possible things that could happen in that particular game to motivate himself and also to pay attention to every action that takes place especially on his side of the team. In life sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, with the people on the grandstand when loss comes they deal with it in various ways, when asked what losing a game is like to him, he said “It is like opening a December grade 11 report card and seeing that you didn’t make it to the final grade, while you see your peers celebrating their progression to the next class. It pains me to see us losing because of the joy and excitement we have before the game (singing and dancing).”

He continued to say “However, after we lose the next game we work twice as hard to fix our mistakes that we committed in the game before to get better results”. Like any other football player Romeo has goals that he would like to achieve in the next coming years “I want to see myself playing in a higher league from the Turkish league and also participating in the champions league finals” and this he hopes to achieve with the constant support from his number one fan his brother Thuto Molale.

His closing remarks were “People will always have their different views about you and/ your team so you just have to ignore the bad publicity and negative opinions, however can be selective enough to only take the good that they say.”

We would like to wish Romeo best of luck in his academics and football journey, may there be one direction he takes from this day going forward, that is to go up and shoot for the stars.

Follow Romeo on Instagram @therome_molale19