Dreams come true for cheery Meka Loots
Work ethic comes in many forms, shapes, sizes and guises. Genius, some say, is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.
A favourite line of mine is: “Sitting still and wishing makes nobody great. The Good Lord gives the fishing, but you must dig the bait.”
Again work. And this work comes in all shapes and sizes. I recall the seven dwarfs whistling and singing a happy refrain while they waltzed off to the mine. The flip side of this is the sweating, swearing and grunting Sylvester Stallone-type guy, brutally forcing his way along, biting into a piece of wood and sewing his own arm back together with fishing gut and no anaesthetic.
Meka Loots looks like that whistle-whileyou-work kind of girl in the water.
She has a happy countenance as she paddles off to find another ride and this past weekend she bagged her best result yet: U14 champion at the Seaharvest Twizza Junior Championships.
Last weekend’s contest at Nahoon Reef was a smashing success.
U21 and junior surfers from all over SA converged on the darling of our waves to wage combat on the finest of our rides.
Our home break came on song and showcased some of our country’s best future talent. While I did not see the entire event, that which I did see was impressive.
Third-generation local surfer Josh Fowles tackles power surfing and big waves with aplomb.
Josh Malherbie may be small in stature but is great in spirit, style and composure — and he is a fierce competitor.
The Buffalo City talent pool is so full — and let’s not forget Zoe Steyn.
Jemma Hannafey is another favourite of mine; in all honesty, there are too many to mention.
The winners’ trophies for the event were particularly special in 2021.
Surfer, coach, competitor and entrepreneur Greg Emslie selected eight pieces of local sandstone from Nahoon Reef.
These he carved with an angle grinder into the shape of a foot.
Keep in mind, his nickname is “The Foot”, and Nahoon Reef has a proud history of the strandloper fossil footprint in our sandstone.
The Footprint MBSA restaurant and museum commemorates this, as does Emslie’s sculpted trophies.
Alongside, Emslie fashioned a cut-out of a surfboard in rusted steel to commemorate our ship wrecks at Nahoon Reef.
Finished off in blue and white to celebrate our breaking waves and from, perchance, our best ever surfer to paddle from Buffalo City shores, it is hard to imagine better trophies.
Keep in mind Emslie is a busy chap and yet he still carved out the time to share art, culture, history and inspiration in the junior trophies.
A role model and mentor with an admirable work ethic, if ever there was one.
I seldom if ever hear him grumble — here’s another whistle-while-you-work kind of chap. Mental note to self: I must take a note from his book.
Division winners of the unique trophies were: Men’s U21 — Conner Slijpen, CT, U16 Conner Slijpen, U14 Rory Dace, Qqeberha, U12 Ben Esterhuyse, CT. Ladies — U21 Zoe Steyn, BC, U16 Mayah Potgieter N, U14 Meka Loots BC, U12 Taylor Emslie BC.
An old expression suggests that big dreamers never sleep. They are wide-awake and in the game of making it happen.
Meka Loots comes from a long line of big dreamers. Her grandfather, the late Bobby Joubert, was an energetic, charismatic, champion lifesaver, and a fine surfboard craftsman manufacturer too.
Mom Daynie has at least three ski/canoe world titles to her name. Dad Pietie represented Border Rugby for at least 100 games, some of these as captain, and also played in France.
Know this: These dreams were realised in sweat and not with head on pillow or bum on couch.
Fourteen-year-old Hudson pupil Meka has the right DNA and her other sport is the tough grind of water polo.
She knows sweat equity and she is cheery about it.
Her dreams are coming true.