From shy kid to
Left-handed Mahlala loves gearing up for her fencing training
IT’S 4PM AND Mpho Mahlala has just arrived home from school. The 12-year-old has spent the last hour walking in the blistering heat from Lofentse Girls High School, back to her home in Orlando East, Soweto.
It has been a long day, but there’s no time for Mahlala to take a breather and relax. She still has plenty to do.
She rushes inside, packs her fencing gear into a bag, and makes her way on foot to the Orlando Community Hall with her coach Hawkins Mkhatshwa.
The hall is where the Soweto Fencing Club meets for training every week. She shows no sign of tiredness for the three-hour session that awaits her.
“I’ve got plenty of energy. I’m still very young,” Mahlala says, giggling.
She has been looking forward to fencing practice all day.
“If I want to succeed and represent South Africa one day. I have to work very hard and be focused,” she says.
“I look forward to my training. It’s the most exciting part of my day. I go to training every day full of energy and vibrancy.”
As a youngster, Mahlala is a fencing revelation, and one of the most promising fencing talents to come out of Soweto and the rest of the country.
Just last week, Mahlala won a junior sports championship title claiming gold at the event in Soweto.
She competed against fencers three years older than her, but still managed to finish top and was crowned the South African under 15 junior fencing champion.
“I must admit I was a little intimidated coming up against fencers that were older than me,” says Mahlala.
“But I was confident in my ability. It felt really great beating my competitors. It gives me great confidence knowing that I can compete against fencers older than me and still do well.”
Mahlala first began fencing when she was nine. However, her love for the sport was evident long before.
“As a little girl I would go and watch my uncle fence every weekend at the Orlando Community Hall. Aside from supporting my uncle, I was fascinated by the sport. To me fencers seemed like these superheroes in their shining armour.”
Just before her 9th birthday, Mahlala decided to take up fencing.
“I went home after watching fencing one weekend, and asked my mom if it was okay for me to take it up.
“Some of the coaches at the fencing club also spoke to my mom. She was more than happy for me to give the sport a try.”
Mahlala hasn’t looked back. She is making her mark in a sport that is virtually unknown in the mainstream sporting world and even more of a mystery in the black community.
She has ambitions of competing at the Olympics, and hopes to follow in the footsteps of her hero Aphiwe Tuku.
Tuku dominated female fencing in South Africa for some time, holding on to the number one spot for five years. Tuku also learnt her trade at the Soweto Fencing Club.
“One day I want to be just like Aphiwe. She is amazing, and she lives in Orlando East, too. She has inspired me to work hard and to push myself to the limit.”
Since taking up fencing, Mahlala says her life has changed.
“Fencing gives me lots of confidence. Before I started fencing I was a very shy kid. And someone who kept to herself. But now I am a different person.
“When I put on my fencing gear I feel like a superhero and untouchable. I feel brave, strong and I feel confident.”
She has also inspired other girls in her community to take up the sport.
Mahlala’s coach, Mkhatshwa, always knew that his pupil was destined for greatness.
“I knew since the first time I saw her training that she was going to be special,” says Mkhatshwa.
“The first thing I noticed about Mpho was that she’s left-handed, and in fencing left-handed people are quite special. So I had a very good feeling about Mpho.”
Mkhatshwa believes Mahlala has a bright future ahead in fencing.
“Since she started fencing she has been bringing back something. Provincially she’s always in the top three, and now nationally she won gold, so she is certainly going places.
“We just need to channel her energy. She needs to train more so she can get better. Just like any other sport, the more you train the better you get.”
While Mkhatshwa finds great joy in training young fencers, he admits it can be challenging.
“You have to check their schedules. Check on their moods, are they happy, are they moody?
◆ BIRTH OF FENCING:
Fencing began the move from a form of military training to a sport in either the 14th or 15th century. Italy and Germany lay claim to its origins, with German fencing masters organising the first guilds in the 15th century, the most notable being the Marxbruder of Frankfurt, formed in 1478.
◆ RULES OF THE GAME:
Three innovations in the 17th and 18th centuries led to the popularity of fencing as a sport: the “foil” – a weapon with a flattened tip; a set of rules governing the target area; and the wire-mesh mask. Together, these developments ensured the safety of fencing’s participants.
◆ OLYMPIC HISTORY:
Fencing was included for the first time at the 1896 Games in Athens, and has remained on the Olympic programme since then. The women’s fencing competition entered the Games in 1924 in Paris.
Today, men and women compete in individual and team events, in which three types of weapon are used: foil, épée and sabre. The foil was, at first, the only weapon used by women, until the 1996 Games in Atlanta, when women’s épée was introduced. Women’s sabre appeared for the first time on the Olympic programme in Athens in 2004.
“You have to deal with all of these kinds of things.”
Mkhatshwa pushes Mahlala very hard in training as he knows she is a special talent.
“Sometimes she thinks I’m being too hard on her. But I really have to be strict with her as she is a very talented individual.
“Sometimes her mom comes back complaining that I have been harsh to her. But I am not being harsh, I see the potential in her and I know she has a really bright future in fencing.”
Sometimes, he lets her be a young person. “It’s all about finding a good balance.”
The 12-year-old is competing at the Gauteng Provincial Fencing Open this weekend, and she has her heart set on winning gold once again.
“I have been winning medals every time I compete, and this weekend must be no different.
“I am ready, I always am,” says Mahlala.