Nazareth, a place located in the east of Maseru, Lesotho’s capital, is home to Lisebo Lesaoana, Kick4Life’s Life Skills Coach, Senior Women’s team Captain, Soccer Schools Coach, Junior Women’s Head Coach and Carpenter in training.
Lisebo,, commonly known as Mosebuza amongst friends and teammates is an open-minded, compassionate, dedicated, and hardworking individual.
Lisebo’s football journey has not always been smooth. She began by playing for the Nazareth community team, Manchester Ladies, where she had limited game time, prompting her to place her hopes in the Nazareth High School team where she enrolled. Sadly, the school team – bereft of support- was dissolved shortly after her joining. Thankfully, her coach referred her to Kick4Life, in 2015, hoping to cherish the youngster’s love for football and unleash the potential. Ergo, Lisebo joined Kick4Life Senior Women’s team, which had just become a founding member of the Lesotho Women’s Super League. Little did she know she had come to place that would become a second home and open a whole world of opportunities for her.
Lisebo quickly became a key player within the squad, with her impressive defensive performances earning her an award for Most Improved Player at the end of the 2015/16 season. In the following years, she and the team worked hard, clinching the Women’s Super Cup in 2018, and eventually the prized national championship at the end of the 2021/22 season. In the following season, she was selected as the new captain of the team after demonstrating exceptional leadership skills on and off the pitch, and ended the same season with a ‘Player of the Season’ award. Her efforts were also recognised on a national level – landing her a spot in the senior national team squad in 2021 and 2022.
Having joined Kick4Life as an on-the-pitch participant, Lisebo’s motivation and leadership attributes also led her towards the sidelines as she became one of the pioneers of Kick4Life’s Girls United Programme when it was launched in July 2018. In this capacity, she was trained to become a life skills coach to deliver football based interventions aimed at empowering young girls and women with knowledge and skills related to sexual and reproductive health, HIV prevention, conflict management, gender rights and tackling gender-based violence. Over the last7 seven years of life skills coaching, she has grown and gained extensive experience as a coach in community programmes, and has played a significant role in positively influencing the lives of children and young people in various Lesotho communities.
She says: “Life skills coaching has impacted me. It moulded me into the best version of myself, it has made me more self-aware and responsible.” She adds that being a Life skills Coach gives her so much joy and pride because even years after an interventions, former participants sometimes approach her and thank her for having impacted positively on their lives. She adds: “The intervention that remains my ultimate favourite is the one I had with visually impaired participants. It pushed me beyond my limits and unleashed my potential to create an inclusive, fun environment for my participants where they were also able to learn much from the programme.”
Lisebo also wants to help as many girls as possible to reach their full potential on the field. Being a football coach has always been Lisebo’s dream and she started volunteering as assistant coach for the Kick4Life Junior Women’s team in 2022. The junior women’s team competes in the 2nd tier league beneath the senior women’s team and is a feeder into the senior women’s squad. Her passion for coaching and ability to work with children earned her another spot in the coaching space in January 2024 as she was entrusted with the role of being an assistant coach in the Soccer School Programme. This programme aims to develop children from the ages of four years, focusing on the three pillars of the Kick4Life Academy: academics, athletics, and character enrichment.
Coach Lisebo’s commitment and love for coaching girls has made her an invaluable figure within the organisation, and Kick4Life has continued to support her development, enrolling her in the CAF C Licence coaching course, with funding from the Equal Play Effect Africa Project. Lisebo says: “Being part of the CAF C licensing course was a golden opportunity, and I am grateful to Kick4Life, the EPEA movement, and to the Lesotho Football Association for making it happen”. The training equipped her with the necessary skills to advance her career as a football coach, and in January 2025, Coach Lisebo was officially appointed Head Coach for the Junior Women’s team. She adds: “As a female coach, I appreciate coaching girls because it means they are with someone they can always be comfortable with, someone who understands them on a deep level and I am glad I can inspire those who wish to go even further within the sports fraternity”
As she continues to sharpen her coaching skills and prepare for CAF B licence, Lisebo remains an active player and captain for the Senior Women’s team, who are currently holding the number 1 position in the Women’s Super League table, vying once again for the national title and potential qualification for the African Champions League. She also continues to work as a life-skills coach whilst also undertaking studies at the Lesotho Opportunities Industrialisation Centre (LOIC), where she is studying Carpentry and Joinery with the aim of graduating in November 2025, and pursing a career in this field.
Today, on her birthday, we congratulate Lisebo for her outstanding and varied contributions to Kick4Life and wish her well in all of her endeavours.
