Pupil’s passion for sport shows
"When I was little I picked up my brother’s broken hockey stick and started playing on my own."
Yonela Dishi is an all-round sportswoman who participates with passion.
“I come from a family of sports achievers and sport has been part of my life from an early age. I started playing both tennis and hockey at a young age. I was about five or six years old,” said Yonela, who plays for the Jeppe St Andrews hockey team.
The 17-year-old Yonela was born in Johannesburg and coming from a family of sport achievers, it was no surprise when she developed an interest in sport herself.
“When I was little I picked up my brother’s broken hockey stick and started playing on my own. My brother said I had potential and that’s how I started with hockey,” said Yonela.
She was also inspired by her brother, Richard Stewart, who played for the SA U/21 team.
The grade 11 pupil from Jeppe High School for Girls also plays soccer, captains the tennis and hockey teams and also loves swimming.
Her favourite sport is tennis and she hopes to obtain a tennis scholarship overseas.
“They don’t offer many scholarships for field hockey. Ideally, I want to go to America or Australia. I don’t know if I want to make a career out of playing sport, but I will need to do something that involves adrenaline and being outside and with people. I won’t give up my sport, no matter what I end up doing. I might go for coaching or sports management,” said Yonela.
Yonela is motivated by her previous achievements, which includes being the 2015 Jeppe Girls Tennis Champion, receiving the Kirsten Brown Award for the Best Hockey Player of 2015 (Jeppe Girls) and the Sportswoman of the Month award in March.
She is also inspired by several role models.
“When it comes to tennis, I am inspired by two players; Serena Williams for her strength and determination in winning every point she can and Rafael Nadal, for his humility and fighting spirit. For hockey, I am inspired by Luciana Aymar who is a retired Argentine field hockey player and is considered to be the best female hockey player of all time, and Julian Hykes who plays men’s hockey for South Africa,” said Yonela.
