Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Jade at the top of her tennis, netball game
Laërskool Brackenfell pupil stars for WP Under-13A side
IF she isn’t busy smashing balls on the tennis court, then she’s taking care of business with her teammates on the netball court.
Meet Jade Atkins, 12, from Brackenfell. The Grade 7 pupil from Laërskool Brackenfell was part of the Western Province Under-13A action netball team that bagged gold at the Inter-Provincial Tournament at
Brackenfell Action Arena last month. They beat Northern
Gauteng 31-29 in the final.
The road to the final for the WP
U13A team was an easy one. They were unbeaten throughout the competition and their biggest win came against Midlands, who they beat 50-18 in their final round-robin game.
In the same month, Jade was on top of her game on the tennis court. She grabbed the gold medal in the girls’ U13 singles event at the Inter-Provincial Tennis Championships in Bloemfontein.
“It has been a very busy month for me with my sports and I feel so blessed and humbled to have been part of such great teams and proud of what we have accomplished together. I want to thank my school and coaches for the support that they have given me,” said Jade, who was part of the Western Cape U12 Willows team that finished fourth at the SA Schools Netball All Ages National Tournament in Boksburg last year. In the same year, she helped her school’s U12 team to sixth place in the SA Top Schools Championships in Bloemfontein.
Jade said it was difficult to balance sport and school work. However, she makes the most of her free time.
“If I have tennis and netball on the same day, I will stay in interval to do my homework, so that it’s not too much in the evening,” she added.
When she first started netball in Grade 1, Jade played in her school’s E team and worked her way up. Today, she is Laërskool Brackenfell’s first team captain.
In tennis, she also worked her way from the bottom to the top and today she is a regular in the provincial teams.
“My development all started at training and the dedication of Brackenfell Primary School and my coaches who believed in me.”
Her mother Lucinda said she was over the moon with her daughter’s achievements
“She is going beyond expectations with all the hours she puts in at training. We never expected her to go thus far in such a short period with her sports.”