BLOG: Anybody can make a sporting difference

I have experienced an array of emotions in my journalism career.

As journos 99.9 per cent of the time we need to keep our emotions in check.

We need to remain bull-headed and professional through any emotional occurrences that may occur while on the job.

It’s not always easy, and some folk have totally cracked and have called it quits.

For about six months in 2011 I reported on crime in Benoni and parts of Kempton Park and Boksburg for another publication.

I saw things that were brutal, repulsive, frightening and just downright ugly.

I got called out of bed at random early morning to scenes of blood and gore.

Really nasty stuff.

Stuff that actually made me shed some tears.

It wasn’t for that long, but I got so sick of it that I needed a new outlet – fast!

I eventually found that in 2013 when Hilary Green handed me the reins of the Benoni City Times’ sport journalist position.

Now, well into my fourth year on the sport beat, I have been fortunate to witness the lighter side of society.

I have had the opportunity to pen many stories of triumph and success of people in my community.

I have had the chance to share my knowledge of the sporting landscape gained from years of sitting on the sidelines of local sport fields, simply appreciating good local competition.

It has not been all rainbows, butterflies, birdies and eagles though.

There is another side of sport – a side where people have to beg and plead just to get government to stand up and assist in keeping various sporting codes alive despite the call for greater transformation in sport.

One such example is the Daveyton Golf Club where, despite minimal assistance from local government (which owns the land), a truly positive story took shape last weekend.

READ: ‘Golf is dying in Daveyton’

After visiting the local club in 2016 and hearing the club committee’s hardships of maintaining the course without much support (no easy feat!) I feared for the future of golf in the neighbouring township which is so close to my heart.

I am one of those chaps who enjoy getting hands on and stuck into his work.

I like being part of initiatives that can make a difference in the world.

While sipping on a cold beer (where the best ideas originate from) and having a discussion about the whole situation with my old pal Mark Robey, we formulated a draft idea to try and assist the club.

“Robez” is a member of a local golf school called ForeTheBoys (FTB, a collective of social golfers and aspiring businessmen and professionals in Ekurhuleni, who come together to compete against each other in a league format at a different Gauteng golf course every month).

The school consists of a number of some of my really good friends and many gentlemen with whom I have forged strong bonds through sport.

Robez approached the school’s chairman Tim Smit with the idea and “boom bada bing” the next thing I knew I was back at the course with Smit’s committee having a look-see at what the FTB school could do for the club.

It took a while, but, last weekend (February 18) Smit and his FTB cronies from Benoni pulled in at the Daveyton Golf Club (cold beers in tow) to make a difference and build a partnership that will hopefully continue to grow well into the future.

With the help of their sponsors and members they raised R35 000 to support the maintenance of the golf course.

You can read the whole formal story by CLICKING HERE.

Heck, even Pollen Ndlanya, a Daveyton boy and goal-scoring striker of note, whose poster donned my childhood bedroom wall, popped in to see this feel good event.

 

Anyway, the message that I am trying to get out here is that any person can play a role in making a difference in society.

Anybody can get off the couch or log off social media and contribute to something positive.

The whole thing of “I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy” is extremely important.

Contacts and networking are the way forward.

Let’s use the resources we have at our disposal to make the planet, or at least just South Africa, more harmonious.

Nation building starts with each and every one of us.

I’ll admit it…

I felt some emotions out there on that Saturday.

Emotions that felt nothing like those I experienced at a crime scene.

They were good feelings.

Proud feelings.

Thank you to all the guys who came to the party.

It was terrific to be part of it.

Let us make this thing grow from strength to strength.

If you did not see a video of the day, here we go:

LG

* Please note that this is an opinion piece and that the views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Benoni City Times or Caxton Newspapers.

Check out some other blogs from this writer:

Things I learned while doing the Garden Route in Romania

I’ve got the runs

Go, on be a sport

LG’s A to Z of Benoni

Follow him on Twitter or Instagram

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