Coach looks to take softball to pro level

Moses Molaba had a sterling career as a softball player and wants to pass the baton to the next generation that will take the sport to new heights.

Moses Molaba has done it
all in the field of softball,
from playing to coaching.
His main concern now is the
development of the game, from
grassroots level.

He played at the Softball World
Championships, coached the SA
women’s team in the Olympic
qualifiers, and represented three
provinces with numerous accolades
under his name. 
Molaba, 42, is currently doing
head coach duties for the Khayelitsha Eagles Men’s team and the
Falcons Women team. 
His dream is to see the sport
evolve from a minor sporting code
to a professional level. 
“I wish all provinces can follow
the Western Cape Department of
Sport and Cultural Affairs with
their MOD programme. If it can be
rolled out to all provinces we have
a better chance to grow, not only
softball but other codes because we
will have coaches that understand
and know the game, teaching the
kids from school level. In turn that
will feed into clubs which would
help us a lot,”.
The MOD (Mass participation;
Opportunity and access; Development and growth) programme
is an after-school, mass participation programme that provides
school-going youth with access to
various fun-filled, play-based activities in recreation and sport, as well
as in arts and culture. 
Molaba believes in focusing
more on school level for the promotion of the sport with accredited
coaching courses like in football
and softball coaches at schools
to teach the fundamentals of the
game. 
“The federation (Softball South
Africa) needs to be the drivers of
this kind of projects as the custodian of the sport. We need to do
more for the promotion and marketing of the sport,” he said.
“We must learn to have a
grassroots league that will feed
in development phases of softball
which we don’t have in the country
from under-13 to 18. Having those
structures across the country will
help a lot with the growth of this
sport.” 
To go with his coaching duties,
Molaba is also a district coordinator for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport. 
He works with softball clubs
around the province in a club
development programme. 
His career in softball started way
before he ever thought he would
move to Cape Town, in Seleteng
village in Limpopo. 
“My late brother Justice Molaba
introduced me and taught me softball between the ages of 9 and10
but I did not like softball as football
was my favourite sport. 
“But I started to love the sport
because most of my friends all
joined softball, I started as a catcher
then to a pitcher because while I
was catching I learned a lot about
pitching. I won my first trophy as best
pitcher in the province at Tintis
Dragons under-14 tournament
while I was 13, and our team were
crowned champions of that tournament and we were coached by former SA pitcher Bushy Mphahlele.” 
He would later go to represent
his province’s under-19 side in
the National School’s Tournament
and a year later started his international journey when he made
the SA under-19 side that travelled
to Canada for the Junior World
Cup. 
He describes his softball career
as a fairytale, having represented
his country both as a player and
a coach. 
“I played in three different
provinces, Limpopo, Gauteng and
Western Cape and won the league
with all the clubs I played for. While at university I played for
Tshwane University of Technology
and I was also a head coach of
both teams men and women and
we won eight trophies before I left
the university and then came to
Cape Town to play for Devonshire
Rovers Softball Club.” 
Molaba wore the SA colours for
13 years and was part of the side
that played in the Softball World
Championships, now known as the
World Cup, which was hosted by
South Africa in 2000. 
He also captained the SA side in the 2008/09
season.
Like many sporting codes that
do not have professional leagues
in the country, softballers had to
dig deep in their own pockets to
fund their overseas travels while
representing the country. 
“Paying money to go represent
my country has been hard because
that means if I didn’t have people
helping me out I would have not
had the opportunity to represent
my country due to lack of funds.” 
Molaba’s dedication and love
for softball saw him also starting
the Pitching and Catching Softball
Academy with Andre Alexander
and Nicole Alexander with the
aim of closing the gap with other
leading sporting codes. 
“We train the pitchers and
catchers because the game revolves
around them in order for teams to
stand a chance to win games.
“That is the legacy we want to
leave in this game, having produced talent that can go on to help
the country be competitive on the
international stage.”