'Coaching is not a glamorous job' - Reneilwe Aphane reflects on excellent 2025

With a return of two national champions (Sabelo Dhalmini and Joviale Mbisha), a silver medalist (Shirley Nekhubui), a bronze medalist (Precious Molepo) and a fourth place finish in one of the most competitive 100m finals ever seen in South Africa (Cheswill Johnson), Reneilwe Aphane’s squad enjoyed fantastic results at the 2025 ASA Senior Track and Field Championships. That Dhlamini, Mbisha, Nekhubui, Molepo, Johnson and a half a dozen  others have all produced personal bests this season is reward for the University of Johannesburg coach’s data-based approach to training and competition.

"Everything has been going according to plan, although we have had a couple of setbacks here and there because of injuries. But that's the nature of the sport. We've pretty much had like a 90% improvement rate across all of our athletes. This is a statistic that I pay close attention to. I'm data-based. Everything that they do in training I measure, record and look over and then the programme we develop is based on those numbers," he told #TheTopRunner.

Aphane is happy with the way in which his athletes have improved over the last twelve months. Photo Credit: Supplied.

Aphane is one of a new cohort of young coaches alongside Thabo Matebedi, Lyle Wentzel and Lindi du Plessis that are making an impact on the sprint events in particular. Although he only turns 35 in August, the 2017 SA triple jump champion has almost a decade of experience as a coach, having started to guide junior and youth athletes while he was still competing and coaching at Prestige College in Hammanskraal, Pretoria. It's a background that has allowed Aphane to excel at coaching, sprints, jumps and hurdles - all at the same time.

"Coaching is not that much of a glamorous job if I'm to be honest. You need to be passionate and selfless in extending yourself. That's what the job requires. It’s good to see younger coaches coming in and making their mark," he explained.

"I come from a high school background where I would have an influx of athletes doing different events. I pretty much had to learn the majority of these events and I also schooled at Prestige and I was doing multiple events at the same time. That’s where research came into play. I had someone like Gontse Morake who was the national record holder for 400m hurdles and triple jump at the same time, which is an approach I now use with Sabz (Dhlamini) because he is also a 7,7m long jumper. When it comes to learning there are no limits. You can learn whatever it is that you need to learn."

Some of Aphane's athletes show off their silverware after the 2024 ASA Senior Track & Field Championships in Pietermaritzburg. Photo Credit: Supplied.

With the successful domestic season now behind them, Aphane's athletes now shift focus to international competition whether it’s representing South Africa at the World Student Games in Germany in July or trying to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo in September. Even though four of his athletes were included in the SA team that had an excellent World Relays campaign in China earlier this month, Aphane is reluctant to predict how many of his athletes will be on the plane to Japan, saying only that their focus lies more on the long term process of developing an individual that can succeed as a professional athlete at the highest level.

"Retshidisitswe Mlenga, Tsebo Matsotso and Cheswill Johnson have about six 10.1's between them this season. So the level of consistency has been excellent. We are now in a building phase where we prepare for the European season and that's where we want to put in most of our energy because that's also where they will be able to make a living for themselves."