Fast pace pitcher of note
Kwena Nkuna's meteoric rise has become one of the unqualified success stories of domestic softball.
LIMPOPO – He recently returned from the United States where he showed his peers glimpses of brilliance during the 2016 Junior Men’s World Championships. The teenage prodigy from Sekhukhune has been nominated for the 2016 Limpopo Sports and Recreation Awards scheduled for 17 September.
Nkuna was the key to South Africa’s attack at Curries Stadium at Emerson Park in Midland, Michigan.
The young man, known to his teammates as Kilo, will be eager to add to a growing list of personal milestones in the upcoming campaigns. So much has been said, written and speculated about the ace pacer’s pitching action that further analysis would be futile.
Suffice it to say, Nkuna’s curious style has been given the thumbs-up once and for all by the game’s authorities. And thank heavens for that, because watching him weave his magic has long been one of the treats of the modern game. His prodigious appetite for strike-outs remains undiminished.
Indeed, the warrior man from Motlolo, now 18-years-old, has raised the bar in an astonishing style during the recent international tournament.
Nkuna says he has learnt a lot during his tour of the States, where South Africa finished tenth after losing 9-4 against neighbours Botswana in a swashbuckling fast pitch encounter.
“We entered the tournament with our eyes wide open, knowing it wouldn’t be a walk in the park. We knew of the tough assignment ahead of us. It was for that reason that we treated every defeat with decency and sportsmanship. But the most important part of the tour was the lessons we learned during the proceedings. It was an event of high octane drama, full of tension, brilliance and amazing tactics. We now want to share those tactics with our countrymen in the domestic leagues,” Nkuna quipped.
Nkuna remains the archetypal modern softballer; he plays all the shots with a full flourish of the bat and knows only to attack, and his breath-taking, dead-eyed pitching is a reckonable force in the game itself. A gambler and a Buccaneer, he remains a natural athlete.
With so many lessons learned overseas, it is befitting that Nkuna’s growing maturity should be recognised with a nomination for this prestigious award.
