Star Proteas players inspire Kokstad youth for Netball Challenge

STAR Proteas netball duo Refiloe “Fifi” Nketsa and Owethu “Sammy” Ngubane teamed up with former skipper Bongi Msomi to give kids from two Kokstad schools a fighting chance in the coming DStv Schools Netball Challenge.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

The pupils from Shaya Moya Secondary and Thembalethu Secondary will represent KwaZulu-Natal at the national under-19 tournament at Hoerskool Dr EG Jansen in Johannesburg on July 26 and 27.

They were inspired by the Puma ambassadors’ stories of their rise to the top from similarly impoverished backgrounds.

They were then taken through their paces in drills and other training exercises on a bitterly cold Monday morning in the small town in the shadow of Mount Currie, southern KZN.

For Nketsa, in particular, the clinic represented a full-circle moment as she went to school at Shaya Moya after moving to Kokstad from nearby Matatiele.

“It’s such a humbling experience,” said the centre and wing defence for the national team and Free State Crinums in the Telkom Netball League.

“You can just see how their faces light up when they hear a Fifi, Bongi and Sammy being mentioned. Just to see how much they look up to us is humbling and brings you down to earth.