Mpumalanga Mirror April 2021 Edition

mpumalanga Mirror
SPORT
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Passion for tennis
leads to the courts
with future stars
JABULANE KHUMALO
Veteran tennis player and coach, Elliot
Skhosana is still a gem and active after two
decades of playing the sport.
His passion for the sport started when he was
at the KwaNdebele College of Education and
has never looked back since. He’s earned his
stripes and rose through the ranks and became a
renowned tennis coach in the province. He also
conducts coaching clinics and has been hands
on with the development of the sport.
“I was only 20 years of age when I started
playing. I was studying to be a teacher at
that time. I developed the love of the sport
when I was training for Physical Education.
I specialised in Cricket and Tennis and I’ve
acquired qualifications for both, as well as
a coaching certificate. I had more love for
tennis because it wasn’t a popular sport in the
township and rural areas.
“That’s where it all started and I never looked
back. The state of tennis in the province is fairly
well, we’ve got awareness programmes with the
assistance of Tennis South Africa. One of the
initiatives is to recruit teachers and unemployed
youth who will undergo training for free to be
coaches. They’ll be deployed in various areas
of the province. There are some who’ve already
qualified as coaches and development officers,”
he stated.
Skhosana has got various accolades under
his belt. He is also the Deputy President of the
Mpumalanga Seniors Tennis Association. He’s
part of the Growthpoint Seniors Inter-provincial
Team.
In his view, he says there are promising
upcoming juniors the province should look
out for such as JP Snyman, Angel Makhubedu,
Heinrich Rootman, Christian Smith, Wihan
Snyders, Arili Boshoff, Jazlin Matome, Gugu
semino, Liyema Socikwa, Sibusiso Mdluli,
Aaron Zitha, Hezekiel Zitha, Mbali Mdluli,
Sphamandla Nkosi and Palesa Mdluli who are
all in the provincial list.
Tennis programmes take place in Kinross,
Sakhile, Emjindini, Mhluzi, Ermelo, Wesselton,
Embalenhle and Emzinoni
Cricket player, Malibongwe Tibane in action.
MALIBONGWE IS HEADED FOR THE STARS
JABULANE KHUMALO
Malekutu Cricket Club player,
Malibongwe Tibane is batting his way to
the top in the cricket world.
Club coach, Vusi Matsebula, hopes
that they will be get funding to build a
proper facility to groom future cricket
stars. They also will be jetting off to
Namibia for a tourney hosted by Cricket
Namibia in September.
Among the 15-boy team, talented
batsman for the club, 13-year-old
Malibongwe Tibane from from Duma
Primary School, will be manning the
batting.
He says he fell in love with cricket
after realising that soccer wasn’t really
his thing.
“I started playing cricket at school in
2017 and I loved the sport. I enjoyed
it from the onset and I would really
perform whenever there was training
and matches. To be honest, in my own
opinion, I enjoy more of cricket than
football. That’s why felt I needed to
expose my potential in cricket. I’m
quite strong with batting and the team
is rallying behind me as we will head to
Namibia and hope that we will do great
as a team and put our province on the
map.”
Tibane’s wishes are that he wants to
do well in academics as well as further
his cricketing career. He sees himself
playing for top flight teams in the future.
Coach Matsebula also revealed that
he possibly might get a scholarship
from a school in the Northern Cape next
year and play for the Pumas Under-13,
however his wish was that he would
hopefully receive a scholarship in
schools that are not too far from his
family as he is still quite young.
“We are only hoping for the best in
that regard. We’re hoping that we get
the necessary funding, not only for the
trip, but in order for us to train in a
proper facility. We were able to get a few
donors who donated a few things. This
is our home ground and we want a turf
where they’ll be able to play.
“We look to grow now that school
sports is permitted. We want the five
primary schools in the area to have their
own team so that we can take off with
the tournament. We want to compete
with the likes of Uplands College and
Penryn and form a strong team right
from the township,” Matsebula shared.