PLAY BALL:
Two Lavender Hill softball players and their coach have been invited to the Junior Women’s World Championships in Florida in the US next month. Here Grivonne Rhoda, 16, Marlene Petersen (coach) and Chesterney Fortune, 17, practise pitching.
TWO TEENAGERS from Lavender Hill High School will be flying the country’s flag high when they compete in softball tournaments in the US and Japan.
Grivonne Rhoda and Chesternay Fortune, playing for the SA softball team, will compete in their first game in San Francisco at the Junior World Softball Games.
Manager of the team and chairperson of Lavender Hill Softball Club, Marlene Petersen, said the two started playing softball at a local primary school and continued at high school, where they showed their true passion and love for the sport.
“Growing up in Lavender Hill is tough, especially now. Things are worse compared with when I was a student here. It is heartbreaking to see how gang violence created fear in children. Softball has a positive effect and creates a safe space. I am very proud of what these two have achieved so far.”
Grivonne, 16, who lost her brother in 2014 to gang violence, said she had faced a lot of challenges in her life but softball had given her hope.
“I am more confident now because I can see how I have made my parents proud. I come from a home where there are a lot of children.
“When I played, I enjoyed being in a different world and out of Lavender Hill for a while, and where I can forget that I stay in a place where you hear bullets every day.”
Grivonne was the only player in the Western Cape chosen by an American softball team to play for them in Spain. It was her first visit abroad and she described her experience as “amazing”.
A shy Chesternay, 17, said she was the first one in her family to achieve something this big, and they were very proud of her.
Principal Faseeg Manie said: “I am proud of my children coming from one of the poorest high schools in the Western Cape and coming from harsh backgrounds. They have not let these situations determine their future.”
“They are breaking the cycle and becoming role models.”