Thando’s tale of perseverance

Former South African National hockey player Thandolwethu Zono (26) is turning a new page from the field to the release of her debut book.

The Pursuit of Excellence: Learning to be nothing short of extraordinary is an account of Zono’s real-life journey while pursuing her dreams and how perseverance helped her succeed.

“There are a lot of things that we haven’t explored so I've decided to step into a new territory. It was scary at first but it has become incredibly exciting” said Zono.

The Grahamstown-born athlete said the book was a story of hope that went beyond hockey.

“There aren’t enough stories about young Black women succeeding,” she said.

“This is not about hockey. I want to inspire people to go after their passion and do it to the best of their abilities. This book is not just for the athlete, but for anyone who has a desire to do something remarkable in their life.

“I want to encourage everyone to go on and do it big.”

Zono said hockey had taught her discipline and team work while opening great opportunities for her.

At the age of 15 while a pupil at Victoria Girls’ High School she achieved SA national colours before she moved up the ranks to join the national U21 squad and later the SA Women’s National Team.

Her impressive hockey talent landed her a full scholarship to study at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the US, where she played for the UMass Amherst Team.

After winning the university hockey championships twice with Umass, she was selected to play in the All American university hockey team.

Zono obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Resource Economics at the University of Massachusetts before she completed her Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Economics at Rhodes University.

She is currently enroled for a Master of Science degree in Resource Economics at the University of Massachusetts.

She describes excellence as a standard that requires a person's best performance to achieve.

“I believe it is allowing yourself to be great. It’s an ongoing journey because you keep setting goals, achieving them then go after more goals,” Zono said.

Two years ago, she started motivational speaking at Grahamstown schools and now she transfers that motivation to students and athletes in the US.

To Zono, this is a way of instilling hope in the communities where she grew up, and where she now lives.

“I'm passionate about building leaders, changing mindsets and improving performance. I use insights from the competitive world of sport and parallel that to the competitive world of life,” she said.

• The Pursuit of Excellence: Learning to be

nothing short of extraordinary can be found on Amazon, Smashwords or by visiting Zono’s website on

www.thandozono.com.

• Andile Nayika is a freelance reporter