Help Ballito’s Amy Naude sprint toward her European circuit dreams

Ballito has a second 400m star in its midst, former Ashton International College pupil, Amy Naude (19) who has been selected to compete in the World Junior Championships in Kenya in August.

Amy grew up in Newcastle, moving to Ballito with her family in 2012. Both of her parents were athletes in their youth and encouraged Amy to pursue sport from a young age.

“As kids, my brother and I did every kind of sport under the sun, but athletics was always my first love!” she said.

The 400m is a uniquely challenging race, because it takes speed and endurance in order to compete at a high level. An 800m athlete and a 100m athlete have completely different body types, but a 400m athlete has to strike a balance, said Amy.

“I started out as a sprinter, but quickly realised that my strength is more in endurance.”

This takes a strict training regime and Amy trains 9 times a week under the watchful eye of Salt Rock coach, Victor Vaz.

“At this point, training is like brushing my teeth. I do it every day and would feel strange if I didn’t. I just love to push myself.”

While at Ashton International College, she excelled both inside and outside the classroom, matriculating with 6 As during a Covid-19 affected 2020.

Although she had options to study further, Amy decided to give herself the best chance of becoming a professional athlete.

The decision has paid immediate dividends and she delivered a victory, taking gold in the SA Junior Championships as well as a second place finish with a personal best time of 53.65s at the SA Senior Championships in April.

Elated with the result, Amy said she would continue trying to beat her personal best at events until the World Junior Championships.

South African athletes are forced to self-fund their careers, even if they are of international quality and able to compete on the European circuit.

“From a competition standpoint, Europe is the best place to go and I hope to get there this season before World Champs.”

Without a sponsor, this is financially impossible and Amy is looking to raise R50 000 via a backabuddy page in order to chase her dreams.

If you would like to sponsor Amy, you can contact Victor Vaz at 083 626 2293 or visit her backabuddy page at www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/amy-naude.