Mario Booysen has enjoyed a distinguished professional career in the hurly-burly of the South African Football set-up for nearly two decades.

The 36-year-old lanky central defender, who started his pro career with Ajax Cape Town (now Cape Town Spurs) in 2007, now finds himself being in charge in his debut stint as coach at the ambitious Safa Cape Town Regional League club side Antalyaspor JPM CT.

He hung up his boots at the end of last season following the club’s decision to sell off its ABC Motsepe Western Cape franchise and focus on development at regional level and he is revelling in his new role.

Booysen has played for a number of PSL clubs since leaving Ajax at the end of 2011. He went on to represent Maritzburg United, SuperSport, Bloemfontein Celtic, Mamelodi Sundowns, where he spent three years, Kaizer Chiefs and AmaZulu before returning to the Mother City two years ago.

Now he is ready to advance his career and impart his vast knowledge to groom youngsters for the future.

“The transition from player to coach was smooth, I must be honest and I’m enjoying it, I must add. When the club started the academy, the owner Justin Paulse asked me to be part of the under-19 side preparations for the Bayhill Cup. I started working alongside Carlo Krieling, just learning more of the coaching side and started educating myself and learning from coaches that have been coaching for years.

Cameron Paulse of Antalyaspor and Junaid Vlotman of Good Hopes during the SAFA Cape Town SAFA Cape Town HollywoodBets Regional League match between Antalyaspor JMP CT vs Good Hope FC at the Youngsfield Military base, Wynberg.

“Before this I was already on coaching courses getting me my Caf C licence, preparing myself for the day I hang up boots. Fortunately for me, I got the job full time. We want to develop the players firstly into better human beings and then we work on the football side of their lives. We want to develop good talented players into humble and respectful boys, with good attitude,” said Booysen.

On Saturday, his side played out to a 1-1 draw with Good Hopes at the Youngsfield Military base and now occupies the ninth place on the league table.

“Certainly not the result we wanted with all the chances we had, but the boys will learn and grow and that’s important for us. We have a very young side: two 16-year-old boys, five 17-year-olds and four 18-year -olds, which indicates what we at Antalayaspor are about.

“I’m nevertheless proud of the boys and I could see they were disappointed with the result, but I can’t fault them for the attitude and character they produced. This is indeed a good sign for our match against Diadora,” Booysen added.

They now prepare to meet the unbeaten log leaders Diadora at the NY49 sports ground in Gugulethu on Saturday in what should be an exciting encounter.

Chad van der Poll of Good Hopes and Antalyaspor’s Mogamat Raaf during the SAFA Cape Town Regional League match.