The biggest blow to the progress of netball, the most popular women’s sport in South Africa, is lack of facilities – so believes Evuya Mhletshwa, a netball player for Stutterheim High School.
Mhletshwa is representing the Amathole District at the Trailblazers Youth Camp in Port Alfred.
The 16-year-old, who “cannot live without netball”, is concerned by the state of the sport in Amathole, and the rest of the country.
According to her, although netball is said to have the largest number of participants – more than two million in South Africa – many were denied opportunity to reach their full potential due to limited facilities.
In Stutterheim, she said, the only netball court was the one at her school – which was cause for concern because it meant aspiring netballers in the community at large were left out.
So bad is the lack of netball facilities that Mhletshwa, who has always aspired to play the sport, only started to do so when she enrolled at Stutterheim High because her previous school did not have a netball court.
It is a frustration to her too that she can only play the sport she loves at school.
Her ambition is to continue playing the game up to varsity level, where she hopes to attract the eye of the national team selectors.
But her immediate focus is to advocate for the building of netball courts, especially in rural towns where she believes most of the talent is hidden.
“The issue of facilities is not only unique to netball, but also in other sports such as cricket.
“And it is bad because it limits people in term of choice of the many sporting codes they can choose from,” said Mhletshwa.
“The starting point to address this would be communities working together and acting on this because we spend so much energy talking without action.
“Mass sport participation must be encouraged so that when these facilities are there, they can be used.
“We need to also understand that sport is not only for competitive reasons but also about the promotion of a healthy lifestyle so all so sports facilities help everyone to be active and live healthy.”
Mhletshwa, a confident GS, who started off as a GK in Grade 4, has big netball ambitions, but because of the state of the sport in the country, especially the fact that it remains unprofessional in the main, her academics should take priority.
Her dream is to become a graphic designer or an architect.
But her immediate goal is to use the skills and lessons she has acquired at the NYC to make a contribution in her community.
She said: “The biggest lesson I have learnt here at the youth camp is that we are different people from different backgrounds but we need to tolerate and respect each other as people for social cohesion and nation building to be realised meaningfully.”
She concluded by saying that she would take a leading role to see to it that the values mentioned above were passed on to everyone she could reach in her community. It is this passion which drives her.
Lack of sports facilities frustrating
Mhletshwa is representing the Amathole District at the Trailblazers Youth Camp in Port Alfred.
The 16-year-old, who “cannot live without netball”, is concerned by the state of the sport in Amathole, and the rest of the country.
According to her, although netball is said to have the largest number of participants – more than two million in South Africa – many were denied opportunity to reach their full potential due to limited facilities.
In Stutterheim, she said, the only netball court was the one at her school – which was cause for concern because it meant aspiring netballers in the community at large were left out.
So bad is the lack of netball facilities that Mhletshwa, who has always aspired to play the sport, only started to do so when she enrolled at Stutterheim High because her previous school did not have a netball court.
It is a frustration to her too that she can only play the sport she loves at school.
Her ambition is to continue playing the game up to varsity level, where she hopes to attract the eye of the national team selectors.
But her immediate focus is to advocate for the building of netball courts, especially in rural towns where she believes most of the talent is hidden.
“The issue of facilities is not only unique to netball, but also in other sports such as cricket.
“And it is bad because it limits people in term of choice of the many sporting codes they can choose from,” said Mhletshwa.
“The starting point to address this would be communities working together and acting on this because we spend so much energy talking without action.
“Mass sport participation must be encouraged so that when these facilities are there, they can be used.
“We need to also understand that sport is not only for competitive reasons but also about the promotion of a healthy lifestyle so all so sports facilities help everyone to be active and live healthy.”
Mhletshwa, a confident GS, who started off as a GK in Grade 4, has big netball ambitions, but because of the state of the sport in the country, especially the fact that it remains unprofessional in the main, her academics should take priority.
Her dream is to become a graphic designer or an architect.
But her immediate goal is to use the skills and lessons she has acquired at the NYC to make a contribution in her community.
She said: “The biggest lesson I have learnt here at the youth camp is that we are different people from different backgrounds but we need to tolerate and respect each other as people for social cohesion and nation building to be realised meaningfully.”
She concluded by saying that she would take a leading role to see to it that the values mentioned above were passed on to everyone she could reach in her community. It is this passion which drives her.
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