Siya Kolisi is laying the Foundation for life off the rugby field
YOU might think that after leading your country to the Rugby World Cup title, as well as a series victory over the British and Irish Lions and a win over the All Blacks in New Zealand, you have it all as a Springbok rugby player.
But for captain Siya Kolisi, it’s just the beginning. Now 30 years old and with 60 Test caps to his name, it was somewhat of a surprise that the No 6 flank decided to compile his autobiography, Rise, at this prime stage of his career.
Kolisi’s story is so extraordinary, though, that it’s quite appropriate that the book was released in South Africa last week. You see, with the Sharks loose forward, there is always a bigger, more important picture – and how can there not be.
Against the backdrop of continued poverty and hardship in South Africa’s townships, Kolisi’s incredible tale of walking the streets of Zwide to Springbok skipper is just the kind of inspiration that the youth of today need.
But it’s about so much more than a big-name sports star making money from a book – by the way, Kolisi has said that he is donating 60 percent of the proceeds to the Kolisi Foundation.
That is what is really driving him these days. The Foundation states the following on its website: “The Kolisi Foundation seeks to support people living in under-resourced communities in South Africa, by providing relief resources, facilitating capacity-building and horizontal learning exchanges, and mobilising and advocating for systemic change.
“The Kolisi Foundation’s mission is shaped around the following three programmatic areas: food security, gender-based violence, and education and sports development.”
Those three areas have played a significant role in Kolisi’s life. As a youngster, food was hard to come by, he had to witness gender-based violence in his family and community, and education and sports development paved the way for him to become the success he is today.
At an event hosted by his sponsor Adidas at the Cape Town Stadium last week, Kolisi spoke about what keeps him motivated to continue operating as a top-class rugby player, and how it intertwines with his activities off the pitch.
When the Covid-19 pandemic was its worst levels last year, he was often spotted handing out food parcels, school shoes and even iPads to those less fortunate.
“I don’t think about my achievements, and all I think about mostly is what gets me going, and it’s the Foundation – that’s my biggest thing. Obviously I want to provide for my family at home, and my family back at home in PE (Gqeberha). But the biggest thing for me is the Foundation. There are times where I want to stop, because it’s too much. I told (wife) Rachel ‘I can’t do this anymore, I’m too sore. I don’t want to wake up so early. I want to drop the kids off at school’,” Kolisi said.
“But I can’t because I have to stay in Durban, and I’m away from the family. But then I think to myself, the people that I always say I play for, how are they going to get the stuff you want to do?
“When we talk, it’s all about what can we do to make South Africa a better place, so that kids don’t have to go through what we went through, the struggles that we are facing…
“So, they can already change their mindset. Where we were thinking of dreaming small dreams, because we didn’t have anybody that we can point out, now they are at this point. That’s why we can’t stop, we can’t give up, no matter how tough it is.
“It’s not about us anymore, because we’ve probably achieved a lot of what we wanted to achieve, but how do we carry on for as long as we can, so that when they get there, things have changed for them.”
But of course, without rugby, Kolisi might not have had the platform to become the iconic figure that he is in South Africa and fast becoming around the globe, and to bring about change, on and off the field. Becoming the first black Springbok captain is a title that he carries proudly and confidently.
Also, he wasn’t any good at other sports!
“I think the first thing it gave me, at a time I needed it the most, is like a sense of belonging – that I belong somewhere. When I was young, in the streets, there are so many things that you can be part of – and most of them are not good for you,” he said when asked about how rugby had changed his life.
“I was doing all of them: trying to taste everything to see which one works for me. My dad played, my uncle played, my whole family played sport, and then I went to rugby training.
“I tried soccer… I was horrible! I started as a striker, and I kept on moving backwards until I became the goalkeeper! Then I realised, maybe this is not for me. Then I found out there’s a sport where you hurt the other person before they hurt you! Then I thought, let me try that.
“I played rugby, and from the first day… I remember the field, it had a piece of grass here and there, and then it’s just thorns and everything. But the feeling I got when I played and I trained, and I trained on thorns with no shoes on – and then I was finished training and I’d be walking home, and I was so happy.
“Every time I missed training, because I went to chill with my other friends, they (rugby coaches) would come and fetch me, and they used to hit us on the bum with small pipes. But that feeling of belonging and having accountability, I had to think of other people now.
“They taught me respect, because we had to say sir and all those kinds of stuff. I learnt all my other values there, from rugby. That’s why being in that environment, that brotherhood, they only care about you as a person, because we were all nobodies there at that time.
“It also taught me that you can do so much – you’re not just an athlete, you’re more than that. You can do so much more. When I look at people who inspire me, I don’t look at what they do on the field, but outside that. Find your purpose before anything else, find your why, and what gets you up in the morning.
“If you have that, it’s the best thing in the world. Every day, that’s all I look towards what I want to do. The Foundation gets me going, but at a young age, if you can find your purpose and know exactly what you want to do, then it makes it so much easier to get up in the morning.”