Lowveld High’s Sanele Siwela set to take flight with Sunbirds
"I fell in love with netball at a very young age," said 18-year-old Sanele who was recently selected to from part of the Mpumalanga Sunbirds netball team.
She started her school career at Nelspruit Primary and is now a pupil at Lowveld High.
Sanele grew up in a netball-rich environment. “My mom was a netball coach, my sister played it… So I thought, well, am I going to be the ugly duckling if I don’t play netball?” she said jokingly.
Since the start of this budding sport career she has developed into quite the versatile player, starting off as goal defence.
“I have been a defender my whole life up until a certain game where our goal attack couldn’t play. I then had to sub in as goal attack instead of defence.
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“From there on I grew as an attacker as well. Now I play goal defence, goal attack and wing attack.”
The thought of playing for the Sunbirds is both exciting and scary to her. What excites her is the wide variety of netball playing.
“When you get exposed to that, you get motivated to perform more; to be on the same standard as them. It is a great step ahead in my life. My goal has always been to play professionally.
“I looked up to other netball players and I was like, ‘I want to be there one day’.”
Team manager for the Sunbirds, Maria Cato said it is definitely an accomplishment for her to make the team at 18. The Sunbirds are a high-performance group and someone has to be a cut above the rest to get selected.
When Sanele is not playing netball she likes keeping her mind busy.
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“I enjoy exploring things; getting to know new things Internet-wise, new environments around the world. I’m a tourist, so I like involving myself in things that involve touring around the world.”
“For me, netball is all about unity, love and respect.” Playing, following the rules and thus learning respect all tie into one for her.
“It cleanses my life through respect and acknowledging and meeting other people and going places.”
Next on her accomplishment list will be varsity cup netball, then the SPAR Proteas and maybe even internationally after that.
Even though Sanele believes she is talented and able enough for what lies ahead, she said there is no denying the hard work that goes hand in hand with the natural talent.
