Fierce fencer set to excel
Sakhile Ngobe says he knew on the spot when Greta Ingram visited his school to introduce fencing that it was the sport he would soon fall in love with.
The 16-year-old Lowveld High School pupil is now under Ingram’s instruction. Sakhile is in grade 11 and hopes that after matric he will enrol for a BCom law degree at the University of Pretoria. That would put him closer to his dream to join the university’s fencing team, Tuks Fencing Club. “I know that if I join the club I will receive good training and ultimately excel in future. The club has the best fencers in the country, he said.
Sakhile added that what he loves about fencing is that it requires discipline.
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“Fencing is an individual sport. So any mistake you make you get paralysed so you have to account for your own mistakes. It teaches you to be responsible,” he said.
Sakhile started fencing at the Nelspruit Sport Arena under the Mpumalanga Fencing Club and Ingram’s guidance in August 2016. He never looked back ever since. “I did my first closed competition in September 2016 and obtained third place in the u/20 age division. It was an exciting moment for me,” he said.
The Lowveld High pupil added that the achievement made him realise that if he works hard he will excel. “I was only two months in the sport and I did well. That pushed me to do my best and today after taking part in three competitions my name is already among the best,” he said.
His second competition was in Johannesburg in December and his natural talent ensured him a 25th position in the u/20 age group where there were more than 45 competitors.
In January Sakhile took part in the Junior Nationals in Soweto and was rated 18th in the competition. “Just after that I received the news that I was ranked 28 out of 60 fencers in the u/20 category in the entire country,” said Ngobe.
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He admits that excelling takes a lot of commitment and preparation.
“We meet twice a week after school to train, but we are now reworking our schedules so that we can add more training time,” he said.
Sakhile’s role model is Sello Maduma who was the first black man to represent SA in 2008 at the Olympics. There are talks of Maduma visiting Mbombela in July to promote this exciting sport.
Ingram said she was impressed with Sakhile’s excellence in the game given that he only recently started. “He is a fast learner and I have no doubt that he will do extremely well in future. He is new to the game, but he is already excelling,” she said.
