FROM starting out as an ordinary player, he has today become one of the most experienced and highly qualified volleyball coaches in Lesotho.

Tšepo Raletooane holds Level III International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) coaching and instructor’s qualification acquired from Egypt in 2019.

He is the first Mosotho volleyball instructor and among the few qualified instructors in the region. He is the only local coach eligible to train other coaches. 

 In 2010, Raletooane obtained a beach volleyball coaching qualification before obtaining a FIVB Level II coaching certificate the following year.

He has over the years won several medals as a Rovers and Red Skins player and later as a Red Skins coach. During his time at NUL playing for Rovers, he won the Intercollege games in 1991 before winning the Intervarsity Games the same year.

He also won the Mangaung Open in Bloemfontein in 1995 with Rovers. At the time, the NUL side only competed in tournaments because the national volleyball league had not yet been introduced.   

With Red Skins, he won the national league four times, in 1995, 1996, 1997 and later in 2003. 

As a coach, Raletooane won the national league with the Red Skins men team from 2004 until 2019 and only lost it to LDF in 2009.  

As an ingenuous mentor, Raletooane had advanced to impress volleyball fanatics at regional level.  Representing Lesotho, he reached the semifinals of the Zone VI Interclub Volleyball Championship more than three times. He won the Championship in 2010, had collected silver in 2005, 2006 and 2012 and bronze in 2017.  

Completing in top four offered his team an opportunity to represent the region in the Africa Club Championship in all those years even though their performance was not impressive.

The team however reached the Second Round in 2011 when it appeared on position 14 among 24 countries.

With Red Skins, he won the Four Nations Cup which featured clubs from Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland on a number of occasions.

He particularly made reference to the 2011 edition when Red Skins thrashed the University of Johannesburg (UJ) 3-0 to lift the Four Nations Tournament title in Pretoria, South Africa.

His club also won the Mangaung Open several times before winning the Swaziland Open in 2016 and a bronze medal in 2017.     

His recent success was winning a silver medal at the 2019 Ladysmith Inter-Township Tournament. His charges also won the Lesotho Winter tournament on numerous occasions.

At National team level while in charge of the Under-20 men’s team, Raletooane won gold medal at the 2006 Zone VI Championship.

He reached the second round of the World Cup qualifiers in 2013 with the senior national men’s team.

Born on April 2, 1970, Tšepo Raletooane is the son of ’Mabafokeng and the late Lehlohonolo Raletooane of Bela-Bela, Berea.

He is the second child in the family of three children - two boys and a girl. 

He completed his primary education at St Theresa Primary School in 1982. He then proceeded to Holy Names High School where he obtained a Junior Certificate (JC) in 1985 and a Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (COSC) in 1987.

He began playing volleyball as a Form D learner and represented his school in several Lesotho Institutes Sports Association (LISA) competitions.  

In 1988, he enrolled at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) for Bachelor of Commerce and graduated in 1992.

He then attended several short courses that made his qualifications equivalent to a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Upon his arrival at NUL in 1988, he played for Rovers and represented the university in many competitions.    

Raletooane was first introduced to coaching in 1995 while still a Red Skins player. He later became a fully-fletched coach after he obtained a Level I FIVB Coaching certificate.

In 2003 when he stopped playing competitively, he focused his attention on coaching and began his career with his old club, Redskins.

“The most difficult players that I have ever competed against include Tšeliso Motšoeneng and Tlhoriso Makenete who also used to play for Red Skins. Even during my days at Red Skins, they were still strong players,” he recalls.