Studies trump SA team call-up
THE SA national women’s sevens rugby team has suffered a great loss as Border Women’s senior side flank Lusanda Dumke turned down an offer to join the national team setup.
Instead, the Border try sensation elected to focus on her academic studies.
Dumke, 21, was approached by the national team following three sterling seasons wherein Border were national champions.
It was during this period that Dumke and her heroics caught the attention of national selectors.
But the pacey player who completed her matric in 2016 has since said no to the national call-up.
“I do not regret my decision to choose school over this wonderful opportunity because I can always have something to fall back on if rugby doesn’t work out,” said Dumke.
Dumke continued that her high school teachers were concerned she was not going to make it in matric due to the travel demands that came with her rugby commitment.
But she pulled through regardless and has since been accepted for a four-year degree in Public Management at the University of Fort Hare in Alice.
Although Dumke turned down the national call, she will not be hanging up her boots just yet as she plans to continue playing for Border.
She encouraged young girls to play sport but balance that with education.
“I really would like to encourage young girls to play sport to avoid things like teenage pregnancy and loitering around in the townships but that should go hand in hand with education,” she advised.
Dumke is not the only sports star to turn down a career on the field of play to focus on education.
IBO champion Makazole Tete put his boxing career on hold for a while to finish his Diploma in Sports Management.
For a long time the gap between sport and education has been visible but in recent times sports stars trying to close down that gap are emerging.
This is perhaps because African sports stars are often regarded as illiterate by the public because of their shortcomings in expressing themselves in English during media interviews.
Be that as it may, former Platinum Stars striker Hareipha Simba Marumo defied the stereotype when he turned down a scholarship to study medicine in the United States of America.
But head of Border Women’s rugby, Mandisa Williams, said education was the key.
In this regard, Williams was in support of Dumke’s decision to go to school.
“Playing rugby is a shortterm commitment whereas having an education is a lifetime achievement which can always afford her life’s comforts and luxuries,” said Williams.
Williams recalled how she advised Dumke of the importance of having education as a young person.
“When she passed matric with low marks in 2015 I told her she must go back which she did and last year she managed to do a lot better than the previous year,” said Williams.
Young women need to find the balance between sport and education, said Williams, because they are both equally important for the growth of an individual.
Finding the balance between sport and education was also vital as it enhances brain activity.
As the age old adage goes, a healthy mind equals a healthy body.