‘I'VE LEARNT LIFE IS SHORT'

Sifiso’s rugby dream is on hold after he was hurt in the Driehoek tragedy, but he’s fighting for his future

- JANA VAN DER MERWE

NOTHING makes him hap­ pier than holding a rugby ball in his hands and dreaming of running full tilt down the field, dodg­ ing his opponents as he streaks towards the try­ line.

“Playing rugby feels incredible,” Sifiso Tshabalala says. “When I side­step five guys and the crowd is cheering me on, I feel very good. Then I’m the step­king.”

But Sifiso’s rugby career hangs in the balance now.

The 19­year­old was in the wrong place at the wrong time on 1 February last year: crossing the walkway at Hoër­ skool Driehoek in Vanderbijlpark, Gaut­ eng, when all hell broke loose.

Four learners lost their lives when the suspended slab of contract collapsed and more than 20 kids were injured, Sifiso included. He cracked four verte­brae when he fell to the ground amid a mass of screaming students.

Now, nearly a year after the tragedy, his rugby career still isn’t a certainty.

Yet there’s been a silver lining to this dark cloud. The accident allowed Sifiso to open up to his school friends about his challenging home circumstances be­ cause the horror of that day brought them all closer together, he says.

He’s also received a lifeline from un­ expected quarters.

The teen, who wrote his matric exams at the end of last year, has been awarded a bursary to study rugby coaching and management at the International Rug­ by Institute (IRI) in Pretoria and re­ mains hopeful he’ll once again play the sport he so loves.

But until then he’ll do his best to se­ cure a solid future – if not for himself, then for his family.

SIFISO remembers the day he played the best rugby of his life as if it was yesterday. He was in Grade 11, and for 80 minutes he outran and out­ manoeuvred his opponents.

He was made man of the match, and provincial tryouts beckoned.