Hailing from a small rural village in Limpopo, Virginia Mabaso had never seen rowing before, let alone imagine that one day she would be the development coordinator for Rowing South Africa.

And with the big announcement that she is one of the finalists for the GSport Awards, she can only look back and be proud of her accomplishment over the years.

The winners for GSport Awards will be announced at the end of the month.

Mabaso, who stays in Alberton, is not just passionate about the sport, but she is the driving force of rowing transformation in the country. She literally drives over 140 000 kilometres to remote places all over the country to find and recruit young rowing talent in her ‘Learn to Row Rural Programme’.

To date, rowing has gained representation in all nine provinces with six of those implemented by her. This created employment for members of the community that are trained as coaches to facilitate the programme in various districts.

There is still so much to be done for the sport to make it accessible in all 52 districts, but as long as Mabaso is involved, she hopes to change this, one kilometre at a time. Being on the road as much as she is, away from her family, going to intimidating and unfamiliar places takes courage.

She believes that if you empower a woman in sport, you empower the nation. Rowing South Africa believes and agrees with her.

The ultimate goals are to increase the number of para, indoor and water rowers, hire coaches with international expertise and win gold medals in the Olympics.

“In the end, it’s not just about rowing,” said Virginia, “we provide more than just a competitive sport to many of the learners who take part in the programme. For many, we are helping them to be a part of something, creating communities, and a sense of belonging.”

From June 2019 to June 2020, Mabaso came back from having hosted the 2019 SA National indoor rowing championships held from June 12 to 15. Welcoming teams from all eight provinces at Mangaung and creating great working relationships with the stakeholders in the Free State.

The event was a great success with medals spread to all provinces, dominated by North West team Jericho.
The Learn to row camps were held from July to September in 2019. The “Learn to row”, concept aims to introduce new rowers to water rowing.

The camps are decentralised and Mabaso believes that to grow the sport on the water. “We have to find water facilities closer to where the teams are based, engage the local government and all the necessary stakeholders to ensure sustainability and support.” And she has achieved just that in all areas, even hosting camps in areas where they were never considered possible for rowing, in Warrenton.

She is elated to be one of the finalists for the GSport Awards and said that she is honoured to be one of them.