Wits Frisbee star earns maiden national team call-up
- Tshepiso Mametela
A Wits Ultimate Frisbee Club (WUFC) star in the making has etched his name into the conscious of the world games on the back of being selected to represent the senior South Africa team at the World Ultimate & Guts Championships.
The coronavirus pandemic eventually dictated matters to a different tune to force Hlogonolofatso Mokoena, a second-year Computer Science student, to miss out on a maiden national team assignment, which was set to take place in the Netherlands in July of this year. The 21-year-old will have the good opportunity afforded to him once again dealt at the same time next year, when the competition will be staged after it was postponed for a year.
As a feather in the cap, Mokoena’s call-up to national duty was for the senior side thanks to an exceptional display at the South Africa trials which were held at the Diggers Rugby Club in Randburg six months earlier. “I was invited because the coach knows my abilities and had seen me perform in tournaments and games,” said the Frisbee star.
“The trials [then] took place, for which I had trained most of December [last year]. Two weeks after the trials, the final team was selected and I was part of it,” added Mokoena, who singled out the milestone as the biggest of his burgeoning student-athlete career.
“It will go down as the highlight. The day I received the e-mail saying I made the team was one of the happiest days in my life. It meant so much to me as this had been my goal since I started ultimate Frisbee. It means a lot as I would like to represent my country at the highest level – it has always been my dream since I was young, to represent my country in any sport.”
Travis Myburgh, who coached Mokoena as the WUFC first team coach in 2018 before moving onto his current role as the WUGC Open Team (Mambas) coach, spoke volumes of the latter’s abilities. “I first met him when I was coaching Wits in 2018, which was also his first year. He immediately impressed me with his athleticism,” recalled Myburgh fondly.
“Not just raw athleticism like pace and agility, but impressive footwork, which is integral for our sport. Over the years he has developed and refined his skills to become even more lethal. Probably the defender I'm most scared to face 1-on-1 in Johannesburg, if not South Africa.”
When asked what it has been like coaching a student-athlete of Mokoena’s stature, Myburgh said it has been a dream. “He has the passion and dedication to improve himself toward a level that he has never played. This is important because while you can get away with a few things when you are one of the best players on the field in South Africa, you cannot when you compete against the world's best, as they are all as good or better than you.
“You have to develop a standard through self-study and aspire to that. Then you have to work at it. He does this and is this is why he's in the team. He has a lot more to learn, and I am confident that he will be an even better player once he has returned from WUGC,” he added.