Ordinary community members do extraordinary things: They have made their mark in their own sports

In February 2017 South Africa grieved the loss of a rugby icon when beloved scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen passed away after a six-year battle with motor neurone disease. But his son and daughter grieved even more for the loss of their dad.

Now Kylie van der Westhuizen (13) and her brother Jordan van der Westhuizen (15) are making their mark in their selected sports. Kylie, a life-long horse-lover, has been making quite the name for herself in the world of competitive showjumping. Jordan, on the other hand, is a soccer star and passionate Liverpool Football Club supporter and has shone in his own right as a goalkeeper. The children live together with their mother, Afrikaans singer and media personality Amor Vittone, in the Dainfern area.

“Kylie has been riding competitively for about three years now but has always been mad about horses,” Vittone told the Fourways Review from their Dainfern home. “Every birthday party was a pony party, every cake was a pony cake!”

Since entering the sport, Kylie has excelled. Last year, she received her regional full colours for equestrian riding and earned first place in South African ranking as best pony rider of the year, having participated in the SA Grand Prix, SA Outdoor Derby and won the FEI (the Fédération Équestre Internationale, which is the international governing body of equestrian sports) South African Gold Tour.

So far this year, Kylie was selected by her school Dainfern College as equestrian captain and during September competed in Sanesa Interschools National Competition event on her horse My Pony Z. She won the 1.10m showjumping class by a whopping 15 seconds, which means she is the top in SA in her class, among other achievements.

“Kylie will be recognised at the FEI National Awards later this month, and be competing in the World Challenge next year, as she’s fourth best in the world. I’m so proud of her, she really has her head screwed on right and spends three hours a day practising. Kylie is aiming to one day be an Olympic showjumper.”

Jordan has his own sports field to thrive in, even if it isn’t rugby like his father.

“When Jordan was about three years old he participated in rugga rugby,” Vittone explained. “He came to me afterwards and asked ‘do you think dad would be mad if I didn’t like rugby?’ I told him no, that we’d be proud of him no matter what. He wants to be like his Nonno [grandfather in Italian].”

Instead, Jordan shared the same sporting passion as his maternal grandfather, Dario Vittone, who played for the Brothers Football Club in the 1950s and 1960s. A stellar goalkeeper, Jordan only found himself in the position by accident. “He really lives, breathes and eats soccer but he only played goalkeeper because someone was absent [during a team practice] and Jordan filled in for him. The coach watched him play and saw that he was really great at saving balls. He’s been playing competitively for the past four years.”

So far he’s proven that coach right. Last year, Jordan was selected to represent the Rand Central Local Football Association in the U14 Gauteng District, one of only two players selected at the time. He has just finished his season with Fourways’ very own Dainfern Lions Football Club, where he grew and learned as a player over the last few years.

Although Jordan lost his hearing as a small child after an illness and wears a cochlear implant, the young man is thriving in homeschooling and is currently learning course work for both grades 8 and 9.

Earlier this year, the young goalkeeper was selected to represent the Rand Central Local Football Association U15 team in Portugal at the IberCup in July, which was hosted in Portugal. During the international youth football tournament, where Jordan was with soccer players from across the globe, he was selected as the second-best goalkeeper present, having saved a whooping 48 balls during his time there.

“This was the last season he was with Dainfern Lions Football Club, he desperately wants to compete overseas next year and has been brushing up on his Italian. It’ll break my heart if he leaves but I know he needs to follow his dreams.”

When his father, also a huge fan of the club, passed, Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp sent Jordan a special letter to share his condolences. Although losing their father was hard, Vittone believes he’d be just as proud of them as she is. “I know Joost would have wanted to see this, see what they’re accomplishing. He, like me, believed that the more love we give our children, the more they’ll bloom.”

Vittone herself has just released a new album and was recently given a special award for her fight against injustice at the 2019 Women of Wonder Woman of the year awards.

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