SISTERS SHINE AT INDIGENOUS
TWO Breidbach sisters have made their community proud after scooping gold and silver in their sporting codes at the 13th annual Provincial Games hosted by Buffalo City Metro (BCM) at Police Park in East London over the weekend.
BCM and Breidbach Celebs Indigenous Club (BCIC) athlete Dellarise Christian came first in the women’s category followed by sister Devonique, who came second.
Teammate Doneè Coetzee shared third place with Nelson Mandela Metro’s Lisakhanya Jela.
The men’s section laurels went to Sarah Baartman’s Leslie Miggels, who walked away with gold, while Joe Gqabi’s Nico Booysen and Sivuyile Simanga took silver and bronze respectively.
The 13-year-old Dellarise is the Drie Stokkies defending champ in the province. She easily defended her title against rivals from all other districts.
The final attempt of 9.40m saw her taking gold and booking her place at the national championships scheduled to take place in Polokwane in September.
The Breidbach Primary grade 7 pupil told the GO! & Express after her achievement, she attributed her success to coach, Desmond Coetzee and his commitment to keeping her dream alive.
“My dream is to be the best Drie Stokkies athlete in the country,” she said.
“My coach always says:’what you put in on the training field is what you get out in the discipline’ and his motivation always is to believe in your own capabilities, no matter what,” Dellarise said.
Older sister, Devonique, 18, a Breidbach Secondary matriculant who joined BCIC at the beginning of the year, said she was inspired by the performance of her younger sister, but never imagined she would make it into the provincial squad at her debut attempt.
“Dellarise always speaks to me whenever she comes from club activities and tells me how much fun she had . . . and what motivated me to join as a member was when she came from the national championship,” Devonique said.
“Her passion for sport and her guts to compete against much older athletes has inspired me to follow in her footsteps.”
Fort Hare University’s first-year teaching student, Doneè was also excited about her performance after she changed from Dibeke to Drie Stokkies.
“I represented BCM in Dibeke at the provincial games in Port Elizabeth last year but my dad, Desmond advised me to change to Drie Stokkies where he is the coach and I never regretted the decision,” said Doneè.
The elated coach said: “The enthusiasm, commitment and discipline of my athletes contributed to their success but the hard work will only start now in preparing them for the next hurdle when they will compete against the best in the country,” he added.