His love for soccer started from when he used to play with his friends after school at the age of six, in their team was called the Gangeni Stars. They were just children who liked chasing after a ball and having fun, he said, and now he is playing with more experienced people. “I’m a born-again Christian who loves and fears God, I grew up in a family that prays so my whole life includes God. I am passionate about soccer.”

“I started playing when I was in Gr 2 or 3, and we used to play after school until sunset. We had matches during the week or sometimes on weekends. I played there for a while until I qualified to play for the primary school team. I started playing as defender and my first official match was when we went to play at a primary school in Kempton Park. After that I started playing winger and midfielder. We used to play school tournament a lot of times,” said Rikhotso.

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During his primary school time he was awarded as the young player of the year at Ndzhovela Primary School and eventually, also as player of the year. “When I went to high school, we did not play much as it was busy. After that I moved to one of the village teams which was Black Pirates and I was playing A2, which were the young ones. We had games here and there, but nothing official. In 2012 or 2013, our seniors called me to play with them, I was still young at the time.”

“I used to get nervous as I was playing with the big guys. We used to play against the other team in our village called Basani FC. From there the A2 started to play a league called Dzumeri Soccer League,” he added. In 2016 while at the University of Limpopo, there was a student league and Rikhotso joined a team called Valencia FC. In the first and second round of the league he was recruited to play for Cosmos FC because of his outstanding performance, consistency, and ability to score goals.”

“When I came back in September I found out they had formed a team that would represent the village called Team Daniel. At Team Daniel we started playing in the Makoti Annual Soccer Tournament in 2016, where 16 villages competed. We ended third. In 2018 during my gap year, I was not playing for a specific team, they would buy me to play for them whenever they had matches. I played for Zava Cosmos, Silver Fox in the Mayor’s Cup and won bronze medals,” he added.

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“In 2019 at while studying at Vaal University of Technology he joined Xihluke FC. “I have been playing soccer for 20 years. My biggest reward is the smile I bring to our supporters, and since some of the tournaments that we play are charity tournaments, knowing that I played to contribute something to people in my village makes me happy. The biggest challenge in soccer is injuries as some take time to heal. My motto is, to involve God in everything and you will grow spiritually.” He is inspired by seeing his friends and family achieve what they have always wanted, and he enjoys a lot of support from his family and friends, he concluded.