The village kid who cracked it
NTIYA-NTIYA: PROVIDING FOR HIS FAMILY A PRIORITY
Chiefs youngster will never forget his rural roots.
Many a young man born in rural villages will tell you about their wish to be able to provide for their family when asked about their motivation in life. That is why being able to provide for his grandmother who has since retired is what motivates Kaizer Chiefs youngster, Siphosakhe Ntiya-Ntiya to wake up and work hard every day.
The Amakhosi defender recalled how proud he was when he could provide for the family and his grandmother could finally retire and enjoy the fruits of his toil.
“Everything changed,” Ntiya-Ntiya told the club's website about the time when he signed his first professional contract at the Naturena-based side.
“For starters, I was (now) able to provide for my family back home, and that is a great feeling,” he said. “My grandmother was able to resign from her work because I was able to provide for her needs. There are many things that changed for the better. I am grateful to Kaizer Chiefs,” added the 23-year-old.
Growing up in rural Bizana in the Eastern Cape, playing football at a professional level was something that never crossed Ntiya-Ntiya's mind as he spent his days looking after the family's cattle and helping with the plowing, weeding, and harvesting of the family's fields.
“I did everything a village boy does,” he said. It was when he moved to Durban and saw his brother play the game that a seed was planted in him.
That's when a journey that saw him join SuperSport United's academy and later Amakhosi's reserves, started.
Now that he is getting paid handsomely at Amakhosi, Ntiya-Ntiya is also looking at the future as he understands that playing football is a very limited career. That is why he has started doing a business management qualification which he hopes to fall back on when the time to hang up his boots comes.
“I think there is only one way for the youth to advance in life … the only opportunity that is real is to study and be qualified. The youth must study as much as possible. With education, the youth will be able to avoid the many ills that we witness happening every day in the society,” he said.