Veteran Sundowns Ladies goalkeeper Asa Rabalao joins club academy as a coach

This after Rabalao struggled to cement her place in the squad, having suffered a long term injury -  resulting in her contract as a player coming to an end.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Rabalao adds that it has been a seamless transition moving from player to coaching, as she enjoys working within football development structures.

"I thought I would still be able to push and play but unfortunately I couldn't continue playing. We all don't know when the changes are coming in our lives, so, I didn't see it coming, I just appreciated what God had given me and maybe coaching was one thing that I was having to become like a coach at a young age,” Rabalao said. 

“I would like to give thanks to Mamelodi Sundowns for giving me this opportunity of being a soccer player. It has been a great journey for me to be part of this and I've won championships and I've made friends and family through this time of playing for Mamelodi Sundowns. 

“It's been six years playing for Sundowns since 2019 until now and I'm grateful for everything they have done for me."

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Rabalao is currently the under 15s coach and also assisting the under20 Sasol and the Gauteng Development League teams.

She unpacks her passion for youth development, stating that the drive for grassroots football started years back in her home township of Alexander.

"My passion for youth development started when I was in matric back in 2014, I was introduced to life skills coaching where I would teach life skills through soccer. I was working as a lifeskills coach at Grassroot Soccer in Alexandra when I was still based in Alex,” she added.

“So, the passion, the drive started then, from there I was introduced to coaching boys and it was a really great journey for me to see this passion and to have the love for football. 

“I'm always grateful and happy to work with young ones to change their lives and it's great working with the young ones even though it's stressful but as I know how it feels to be a young and how I can manage to help them to become better."