Grandmother brings cricket to teen girls
DURBAN grandmother Sue Pather is proof that age is nothing but a number.
The 72-year-old former cricketer is no longer permitted to play — only because she has qualified as an umpire — but this has not stopped her from using her love for the game to benefit others.
Pather is an umpire for the KwaZulu-Natal Women’s Cricket Association and is out on the field every week in the role of coach of the girls’ cricket team at Addington Primary School in Durban. On weekends she coaches teenagers from Umlazi, KwaMashu and Umbumbulu.
Her work on the cricket field has earned the former wicketkeeper a nomination in the inaugural Johnnie Walker Sunday Times Nation’s Greatest awards.
The Nation’s Greatest awards seek to recognise ordinary South Africans for their selfless commitment to their chosen career or community across seven categories, including greatest individual, mentor, inventor, hero and challenger.
Pather, a grandmother of eight, has been nominated in the greatest community leader category by fellow cricketer Nokuthula Khumalo.
Khumalo said Pather should be recognised for her dedication to the children. She met Pather during a match on a field near King’s Park rugby stadium in 2006. A friendly chat after that game resulted in the birth of the My Children Cricket Academy, which has more than 30 girls participating regularly each year.
Khumalo said initially she only wanted Pather to help her set up an academy to keep children off the streets.
“Sue was not only keen on training the children, she even bought all the equipment and arranged transport to get the children to the coaching clinic.”
Pather, who works as manager of a boutique, said she was “humbled” by the nomination.
“I am doing what I love,” she said, adding that cricket kept her fit and gave the girls something to do.
Pather is no stranger to community work. As a former antiapartheid activist, she said, she once did her bit to change South Africa.
“I played a small part back then and now I choose to change these girls’ lives.”
To nominate someone for a Nation’s Greatest award, go to www.nationsgreatest.co.za. The closing date for submissions is August 25. The finalists will be selected by a panel of judges and will be announced in the Sunday Times on September 22