Female footballers' sacrifices rudely awakened JVW coach

Stevens’ introduction to women's football was only in 2021, following Musah Arthur's brief tenure with the club.

According to Stevens, except Banyana Banyana striker Gabriela Salgado, the bulk of his senior players - including goalkeeper Kaylin Swart - balance football with 9-5 jobs. Others, such as midfielder Bongi Thusi, have added obligations, foreign to their male counterparts.

"I've been in football for many years but the sacrifice and the dedication. I mean, Bongi is a mother of a little boy, she's got a full-time job, I think he's three years old and she's at training, three times a week,” he told SABC Sport.

“We normally get started at 6:30 [pm] finished by 08:30 to quarter to nine and she still has to get home, feed. I can't believe the dedication, we've got players coming from Soweto, and they get home at half past nine, 10:00 o'clock. So, I take my hat off to these girls, their dedication and their passion,” Stevens said.

That dedication and passion have elevated JVW to third place in the Hollywoodbets Super League with only eight games remaining in the 2023 season.

And, while feeling helpless at times, Stevens has committed to establishing an environment in which the players have something to look forward to weekly.

"I'm very tolerant, I'm very understanding and I try to create a camp and an atmosphere that I treat them with utmost respect and patience and I create an environment where they want to be there. Because who wants to work eight hours a day, travel, train, get home at half past nine and not enjoy it.”

The mentor believes a professional league is the only solution, as proven by how quickly their academy girls are improving due to the hours spent completely on the sport.

"For half of these girls, if they were to get a professional salary and be able to dedicate the number of hours that some of the competition in this league does, I could change these girls' careers. I could change their ability. 

We've got a little academy that we work with during the week which I've got six girls. The technical ability that these girls are developing just because of the amount of time that we can dedicate to working with them and the ball, they're gonna be great players."