Teens engage in sports to keep away from potential crime hazards in west

For teenagers growing up in high crime rate areas with potential pitfalls linked to their environment, participating in sports offers a necessary alternative way to spend their time, remain disciplined and foster good friendships.

This has been the case for 15-year-olds in the west of Pretoria, as they use sport to help them avoid bad influences.

According to Poppy Lekola, head coach of The Warriors netball club, the sports initiative has brought together teenagers from Atteridgeville, Lotus Gardens and Saulsville to play netball to keep safe from crime and negative influences.

She said the drive behind starting a netball club was the realisation that children in these areas yearned to play sport, however, due to a lack of resources and sports grounds, they ended up descending into crime.

“As a person who was groomed by sport, during my studies, I did my research through scholars and would visit schools and talk to learners and that is where I figured out their love for sport.

“We don’t have places where the kids can play, as a result, you would find them sitting by corners doing nothing to stimulate them, and then their minds just get influenced by their surroundings, which is crime.”

Lekola said through parental support and her studies on child psychology, she took time to understand how a child’s mind functions in this era and what children go through.

She said playing netball has helped many of the children to get away from negative environments, where crime and violence are the leading aspects of their lives.

“We have kids with low self-esteem that are victims of child abuse, children that experience a lot of things in their homes, so the netball court is a safer space for them to rehabilitate.”

She emphasised the great impact that participating in netball has had on the players in terms of having discipline and forming good relationships and friendships with fellow players and their coaches.

“In areas characterised by crime, disciplining a child can be difficult, but with netball, they learn that is important to instil discipline within themselves in all aspects of their lives, whether it is at home, school or on the court.”

Parents expressed immense appreciation for the netball club initiative as it assists them with developing and keeping their children off the dangerous streets.

One parent, Windy Motswai, said the initiative is helping in safeguarding children against rape and human trafficking as their children don’t roam around the streets not knowing what to do.

“We are dealing with a serious issue of rape and human trafficking but when my kids go to play netball, I know that they are in the safe hands of their coaches and are away from the dangers of bad people.”

Supporters said they feel the club is bringing together community members and helping to reduce crime in society because people become united and support each other.

“As a community, this will assist us in reducing crime, especially sexual crimes, because raising a girl child is not easy because of sexual offences so parents worry all the time,” said community member, Mpho Nyalungu.

“We hope that this will continue to grow and be a club that is inclusive for male children with many sports to choose from also because most of them resort to crime and drugs due to not having anything to do,” he said.

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