It was great achievement for St Patrick’s Special Needs school pupil Olwethu Ngwekazi when he was selected to represent the South African Schools Association for the Intellectually Impaired (SASAII) Black Ball Pool team in Ireland last month.
Ngwekazi just recently returned from competing in a four country competition in Ireland which took place from October 8-18, with him performing admirably.
“It was an amazing experience,” said Ngwekazi.
“It was the first time I have ever been on a plane and travelled overseas, and the people I went with were very nice and made sure I was comfortable.”
Ngwekazi played against competitors from Ireland, Scotland and Italy and he performed very well overall in his first international experience.
He won a number of the matches he played according to his manager at the school, Vuyolwethu Tshili, and had a really enjoyable experience.
“The rules over there were a little bit different to the ones we have here, which took a bit of getting used to and I was a little bit shaky at first but got more confident the more we played,” said Ngwekazi.
“The way they are playing there, they are more advanced than we are, so they were very good, but I enjoyed the experience and I want to use some of the things I learnt over there and teach some of the guys here.”
Ngwekazi wants to keep playing pool and now that he has represented his country he wants to continue doing well and go overseas again.
“I want to go back over again and represent South Africa and when I go back I will be more prepared,” said Ngwekazi.
St Patrick’s is a special needs school at Ginsberg Location in King William’s Town.
To qualify for the SA team Ngwekazi, along with other children from the school in various sport codes, played in the regionals in the area.
He managed to win all his games, from there he moved on to the provincials, and then to the nationals, following which he was selected for the team.
“The federation identified him and he was the only one from the Eastern Cape to make the team,” said Tshili.
It, however, was not all cut and dry as money was still needed to be raised for him to make the tour.
“It was hard for us because we did not have any sponsor for him so we had to scrape enough money for him to go over because we thought it was an opportunity of a lifetime for him,” said Tshili.
“But once he had left the kids at school were always asking me when he was coming back because they wanted to hear how it was and they told me that they will be serious now because they also want to go overseas.”
Adding more excitement for the school, another St Patrick’s pupil, Siphelele Mkolweni, also did very well at the nationals and was selected to the SASAII cricket team to play in England in January.
With the impressive success of these two it might just inspire more kids from the school to go for their dreams and try and qualify as Ngwekazi and Mkolweni have done.
Ngwekazi excels for his country
Ngwekazi just recently returned from competing in a four country competition in Ireland which took place from October 8-18, with him performing admirably.
“It was an amazing experience,” said Ngwekazi.
“It was the first time I have ever been on a plane and travelled overseas, and the people I went with were very nice and made sure I was comfortable.”
Ngwekazi played against competitors from Ireland, Scotland and Italy and he performed very well overall in his first international experience.
He won a number of the matches he played according to his manager at the school, Vuyolwethu Tshili, and had a really enjoyable experience.
“The rules over there were a little bit different to the ones we have here, which took a bit of getting used to and I was a little bit shaky at first but got more confident the more we played,” said Ngwekazi.
“The way they are playing there, they are more advanced than we are, so they were very good, but I enjoyed the experience and I want to use some of the things I learnt over there and teach some of the guys here.”
Ngwekazi wants to keep playing pool and now that he has represented his country he wants to continue doing well and go overseas again.
“I want to go back over again and represent South Africa and when I go back I will be more prepared,” said Ngwekazi.
St Patrick’s is a special needs school at Ginsberg Location in King William’s Town.
To qualify for the SA team Ngwekazi, along with other children from the school in various sport codes, played in the regionals in the area.
He managed to win all his games, from there he moved on to the provincials, and then to the nationals, following which he was selected for the team.
“The federation identified him and he was the only one from the Eastern Cape to make the team,” said Tshili.
It, however, was not all cut and dry as money was still needed to be raised for him to make the tour.
“It was hard for us because we did not have any sponsor for him so we had to scrape enough money for him to go over because we thought it was an opportunity of a lifetime for him,” said Tshili.
“But once he had left the kids at school were always asking me when he was coming back because they wanted to hear how it was and they told me that they will be serious now because they also want to go overseas.”
Adding more excitement for the school, another St Patrick’s pupil, Siphelele Mkolweni, also did very well at the nationals and was selected to the SASAII cricket team to play in England in January.
With the impressive success of these two it might just inspire more kids from the school to go for their dreams and try and qualify as Ngwekazi and Mkolweni have done.
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