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MBABANE – Practice makes perfect.
Those are the sentiments of today’s bright sports woman Tandzile ‘Zee’ Ngwenya. Ngwenya is doing her final lap of her studies at Ngwane Teachers College. She is an ambitious track and field runner. She has already decorated herself with few medals after joining athletics six years ago. She never regrets her decision to switch from netball to athletic, as she believes it will benefit her career. “I could not resist athletics back in 2017, while in high school. Although at that time I also played for Dwaleni High School Netball team, the health benefits such as fitness got my heart,” Ngwenya further stated.
It did not take long for Dwaleni to reap the fruits of this athletics enthusiast’s passion. It was during the 2018 Eswatini Schools Sports Association (ESSA) athletics national championships staged at Mavuso Sports Centre where she stole two medals.
She came first in the triple and long jump and got a silver medal in the 400m. Despite taking a gap in 2019 after completing her high school education, the athletics spirit never died within her.
“After completing my secondary education, I did not participate in any athletics event. I was blank on national competitions, so I used to hit the road until I enrolled at Ngwane Teachers College in 2020,” she shared.
Tandzile Ngwenya
Zee (from her second name Zinhle)
Mahamba
Athletics (Track and Field) since 2017 Netball and Chess
Nhlangano Track Club (2023)
ACHIEVEMENTS:
ESSA 400m silver medal (2018) Triple jump gold medal (2018) Long jump gold medal (2018)
Fondly
‘Zee’, as she is fondly known, then actively participated in the college athletics events and excelled. She has also expressed her dream of affiliating with a club to take her sports career into some new horizons. She recently joined one of the country’s renowned clubs, Nhlangano Track Club (NTC).
“After having a club, it is every athlete’s dream to one day represent the country in one of the prestigious international competitions. Besides that, there are also numerous opportunities that can be explored with sports,” the completing Ngwane College student said.
Some of these big international athletics tournaments include, among others, the annual African Athletics Championship and the quadrennial Commonwealth Games. Zee said sports were also a backbone of her teaching profession. “There are challenges along the way such as lack of facilities for training. Travelling cost and proper diets are still a challenge for us. We need some more and lucrative competitions for the economic benefit of us,” Zee concluded.