Kaizer Chiefs' young left-back, Happy Mashiane opened up about how he landed up at the Amakhosi youth academy.
The 22-year-old was promoted to the Chiefs first team last year, January, where he's made six first team appearances for Amakhosi so far.
Speaking to Chiefs official website, the South African youth international had an interesting story to tell about his journey through the Soweto giants' ranks, starting off by revealing how he first was given to opportunity to join the academy.
"I knew that the East Rand produced some of the finest footballers and that encouragement me. I did not endure a difficult upbringing, but in terms of my football career, it was not an easy path to get to the professional level," he said.
"I was fortunate to grow up under a good mentor like Ghino Johnson. Ghino always told me that I have the potential to make it in the professional ranks. He always pushed me to work hard. Ghino started a development team called Future Through Football (FTF) which I played for. The team was based in Sandton. It was not easy, but he organised transport for us to travel to and from training. We had a great time with Ghino at FTF.
"After playing for under Ghino's guidance for a few months, we then had an opportunity to play against Kaizer Chiefs U-17 in the league. I impressed during the game and got invited to Kaizer Chiefs youth Academy for trials. As the saying goes, the rest is history. Here I am a Glamour Boy today.
"My mother ran a day care centre," reveals Mashiane. "My father was retrenched from work and had since continued doing some work as a plumber," Mashiane added.
