Glenwood’s Thinyane to join Sharks

KATLEGO Thinyane, 17, is the latest Glenwood boy to be signed to a major team after he committed himself to the Cell C Sharks for next season.

Thinyane’ story resembles a typical American sports movie plotline; a talented boy from a small city gets recruited by a bigger school and he makes it to the big time.

Thinyane is from East London, where he attended Stirling High School which was based in Stirling; a small but rugby-loving town.

“I was in Grade 10 when I got offered the opportunity to study at Glenwood. I knew Glenwood was a really good school so I was not going to pass up an opportunity to go there,” said Thinyane.

Going from a co-ed school in a small town, to an all-boys school in Durban was always going to be a culture shock.

Thinyane said the first couple of months were hard for him; struggling to adapt to his surroundings and the higher, intense levels of preparation.

“I remember my first training session, I was struggling to bench press 60kg. When I looked around, my teammates were already doing 65, 70 and 90kg. That’s when I realised the standards are a bit higher here and I had to raise my game if I wanted to compete,” he said.

ALSO READ: Glenwood trio to join mighty Lions rugby team

Modest as ever, Thinyane credits his coaches and teammates for helping him adapt quickly to life at Glenwood, but a look at his short career shows a player determined to catch any curveball thrown at him.

When he got recruited from Stirling, Thinyane was a quick, swashbuckling flyhalf.

The only problem for him was that the Glenwood first team already had a quick, swashbuckling flyhalf in Jordan Hendrikse. Hendrikse was recently signed to the Lions.

“With Jordan there, it was hard for me to play any games. I spent a long time on the bench,” said Thinyane.

“There was this one time where we had injuries on the wing and the coach asked me to try and fill in there. Since that game I have never played as a flyhalf again.”

He now plays as a utility back. When asked of his biggest achievements, Thinyane starts by reminiscing about an article which referred to him as an ‘underrated’ player.

“I always struggle to make provincial teams and I don’t have that many personal accolades. So my biggest achievement would have to be making the Glenwood first team,” he said.

Fortunately for Thinyane, his talent caught the radar of the Sharks scouts, something he describes as “amazing” and “overwhelming”.

“My mother cried when I told her over the phone. My twin sister, who’s a good hockey player, was very happy for me, the whole family is extremely proud. I have just been getting a lot of congratulatory messages, it” crazy,” he said.

Thinyane will be joining Jordan, Nico Steyn and Henk Gouws from that ‘special” Glenwood team of last year, as the next crop of professional rugby players.

Like the other three players, Thinyane has very modest future goals for his rugby career; making the Sharks U22 team.

None of the four boys interviewed by Berea Mail mentioned the Springboks when asked what their goals were.

“It”s what has been instilled in us at Glenwood, to take it one step at a time. Dreaming is fine but you have to be realistic when setting goals,” said Thinyane.

Thinyane, a matric learner, is expected to be back at school on June 1. He said he also wants to study law next year.

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).

Do you want to receive news alerts via Telegram? Send us a message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts

Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.