Africa-Press – Namibia. FORMER Chiefs Santos and Brave Warriors defender Nelson Geingob is one of the most consistent players to have come out of Namibia.
Born and bred at Tsumeb, the former junior national team star, who has only known Santos from his younger days, also went through all the junior ranks before finally making it to the senior national team.
With 11 years of consistent call-ups to the national team between 1999 and 2010, Geingob is probably one of the longest-serving players of the Brave Warriors.
“I had my first introduction to organised football when I was selected for the under-10 side of the St Francis Roman Catholic Primary School. I continued my football career at Etosha Secondary School where I was also required to play rugby.
“I also tried my luck at both the long and triple jump, while I played a little bit of tennis which probably helped with my agility and sharp reflexes on the football pitch. I also went through the ranks of the Namibia Schools Sport Union (NSSU),” Geingob says.
The former hard-tackling left back was recruited to the Santos fold by the two icons of the team, midfielder Mohammed ‘Slice’ Ouseb and striker Gerros ‘The Bomber’ Uri-khob, while he was still a Grade 10 people at Etosha Secondary.
Geingob, who describes himself as a bad loser, was part of the under-17 team that represented the NSSU at the Gothia Cup in Sweden, and the Helsinki Youth Tournament in Finland, while he also graduated to the under-19 NSSU team. He was part of the under-23 national side that participated in the Four Nations Cup hosted by South Africa in 1995 while still a Grade 10 pupil.
The Young Warriors, who were coached by Rusten ‘Sukhile’ Mogane and the late Seth ‘Orlando’ Boois, defeated Lesotho 2-0 in their opening match, and drew 1-1 with the hosts South Africa before they were crushed 4-0 by South Korea in their final match of the tournament.
The retired defender is a two-time league winner with the Copper Town Boys, while he also tasted an NFA Cup glory once with his childhood team. After graduating from the then Windhoek College of Education, Geingob started teaching at Okahandja in 2003 and joined Namibian Champions Black Africa for two seasons before jumping ship to turn out for cross-town rivals Civics for one season.
Geingob then returned to Santos when they returned to the Namibia Premier League – only to be relegated after the same season. “I would have loved to play for Santos even after they were relegated, however, the Brave Warriors coach at the time, Tom Saintfeit, told me I would have to play for a premier league team if I wanted to keep my place on the national team.
“I then decided to join Oshakati City who were playing in the premier league while based at Tsumeb. They would send a car to fetch me from Tsumeb during home games and they would pick me up on their way to Windhoek or Walvis Bay for away matches.”
Geingob’s journey with the Brave Warriors ended in 2010 with another good showing against Bafana Bafana, which ended in a one-all draw in Johannesburg.
WORK, FAMILY Geingob is employed at the Tsumeb English Medium Primary School where he teaches Grade 7 pupils mathematics and science. He is the second former national team player to teach mathematics after former Black Africa great David ‘Fellah’ Snewe.
“I am teaching what is construed to be a problem subject. Mathematics is an application subject, which is actually content application. But today’s pupils are allowed to use scientific calculators in class. There are no real challenges with science.
“Children are now just pressing buttons in class instead of applying their minds,” the head of department says.
The former Black Africa defence stalwart, who was elected as an executive member for the northern regional sports development of the NNSU last week, will also be working in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service.
Geingob, who coached the Otjozondjupa regional team during the 2012 version of The Namibian Newspaper Cup, is also the chairperson of the Northern Masters League – which includes teams of retired players from Tsumeb, Grootfontein and Otavi. Geingob says he is disappointed in today’s young people who are overly reliant on social media.
“The stop-start, stop-start situation of Namibian football should also carry most of the blame for the negative attitude of the youth. You don’t see young players running during the early morning hours or even in the morning to boost their energy levels.
“All their energy is now spent in-house and on social media. Just when the people were starting to get used to going to stadiums, football was abruptly stopped,” he says.
Geingob is single and has one son and four daughters. The retired defender says football has taught him to be disciplined, strong, and responsible. He says his father, Lemmy Thomas Geingob, had the biggest influence on his football career.
Lemmy never missed a national team match, Geingob says. His advice to young players is to be willing to make sacrifices. “Stay away from social media and put 10 times more effort in at training.”
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