Teenage soccer players who dream of becoming star South African professionals are taking up ballet to give them the edge on the field, in a training regime inspired by Argentine great Diego Maradona.
The youngsters at one of South Africa’s elite soccer academies spend 30 hours a week practising on the pitch.
And now they are also putting in the hours in the ballet studio where they leap and plie in their soccer kit to learn skills their trainers say will make them better players.
PHOTO: AFP
“It started off [when] some person went and compared Maradona’s game to typical ballet movements, and that’s where they started developing their ballet curriculum for football,” said Kobus Maree, a physiotherapist at the Sport and Art Exchange Academy.
The program began a year ago when the sparkling new campus opened in a suburb between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and the gains are already showing, said Dirk Badenhorst, who heads the school’s ballet program.
“There’s a basic move that they do called a rond de jambe en l’air, where they lift the leg in the air, and that in particular helps them with kicking the ball in the air,” he said.
Maree said ballet training has already improved the players jumps and kicks, improvements that helped them overcome any initial reluctance about taking up dance.
“They were worried they would have to put on tights and all that funny stuff,” he said. “If they see the performance benefits, and it gets related back to their sports, then I think kids will do quite a bit to perform better and be competitive.”
The boys were recruited from across South Africa, with scouts also venturing out into Botswana, Zambia and Kenya. Full tuition for boarders costs 140,000 rand (US$14,600) a year.
To make it more accessible, some students are given assistance, like Botshelo Madumo, a 14-year-old from Pretoria who has had all his fees covered.
“I almost went into tears. My mum was in tears though, so I was really happy. She was jumping for glory,” Botshelo said, remembering when he found out about his scholarship.
He grew up in a poor township, but was scouted at his first tryout with a local club in Pretoria.
To find other young players like Botshelo, both the sports and the ballet programs head into some of the poorest neighborhoods, hoping to spot young talent.
Ballet teachers run classes at the nearby Madibotle primary school, where headmistress Patricia “Busi” Lumwila said she has only 26 teachers for more than 850 students, including about 100 orphans.
“They are from the poorest of the poor,” she said. “Some of them don’t even know where town is.”
During their dance lessons, students who can’t focus in the classroom become disciplined and attentive as they practise their movements, she said.
“Most of their parents did not get this opportunity,” she said.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
When 42-1 underdog James ‘Buster’ Douglas shocked ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson 34 years ago at the Tokyo Dome, the result reverberated worldwide. Spectators at the 45,000-plus seater venue witnessed one of boxing’s biggest upsets as unbeaten heavyweight champion Tyson was knocked out in the 10th round by the unheralded Douglas in February 1990. Boxing returns to the famous venue on Monday for the first time since that unforgettable encounter when Japan’s undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue puts his belts on the line against Mexican Luis Nery. The 31-year-old Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) is a huge star in Japan and is just
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to