Lim hockey team heads to Europe
The team is eager to represent their country at an international competition later this month.
POLOKWANE – A team of 13 youngsters from Tshilwavhusiku Razwimisani Special School are ready to head to an international hockey competition taking place in Austria.
They were honoured at a ceremony that took place in Louis Trichardt last Friday where they received well wishes with a special message from MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Onicca Moloi.
The floor hockey team will depart for Austria where they will represent South Africa in the Special Olympic World Winter Games, an international sporting event for athletes who are intellectually challenged, from 14 to 25 March.
“Limpopo, and Vhembe in particular, is the home of sporting legends. You are counted among many world class athletes like the late Mbulaheni Mulaudzi, Philip Ndou, Caster Semenya, and many others,” Moloi said.
In a direct reference to the late Nelson Mandela’s speech in Monaco where he talked about the power of sport, Moloi reiterated: “Sport can create hope where once there was only despair”.
She said the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will provide the team with track suits and transport from Makhado to OR Tambo International Airport and back.
The team’s flights and upkeep in Austria are being taken care of by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
Moloi said the department will work hand in hand with role players to enhance the sport participation of people with disabilities.
She urged the mayors of the Vhembe District Municipality and the Makhado Local Municipality to prioritise building sport facilities which are able to accommodate people with disabilities so they too can watch and participate in sport.
Special Olympics South Africa CEO, Ancilla Smith, said the Tshilwavhusiku Special Team brought home gold from the Special Olympic World Winter Games in South Korea in 2013 and she is confident they will do so again this year.
“They competed against the United States in the final and despite their competitors’ world class facilities, they still emerged triumphant,” Smith said.
Tshilwavhusiku Razwimisani Special School Principal, Mufunwa Ramutshila, said they are all proud of the the team and they are confident they will rake in yet another gold medal.
She said the team consists of talented players and her only concern about their performance was that they lacked proper shoes to play with.
“We have been told that the floor is slippery hence our players need proper shoes in order to participate. The MEC promised to meet with the Special Olympics South Africa CEO to see if they cannot assist us with acquiring the proper shoes,” she explained.
Ramutshila wished the team well and urged them to do their best to fly the South African flag high and make everyone proud.
