Disability does not stop Maria
Local athlete named as a finalist in the Gauteng Sports Awards.
Her bubbly personality and oomph for life are the first things you notice about Maria Combrink.
You then might notice the fact that she is an amputee.
The Delville resident does not let this fact slow her down, however, and has been named a finalist in the Gauteng Sports Awards in the Disabled Sportswoman of the Year category.
The other two finalists in the category are Kgothatso Montjane (wheelchair tennis) and Sandra Khumalo (rowing).
The Gauteng Sports Awards take place on October 1 at Silverstar Casino. Maria competes in both shot-put and discus.
With an impressive sporting CV behind her name, Maria holds the African record in shot-put which is 9.61 metres in the women’s F44 category.
She is also hoping to improve the South African record for discus in the women’s F44 category at the Nedbank Athletics Championships for the Physically Disabled in March next year, hosted in Bloemfontein.
Maria started competing in para athletics in December 2015 and has been coached by Teresa Visser since May last year.
She also used to compete in rowing but said that she could not concentrate on everything and decided to rather compete in athletics.
“Before my amputation in 2014, I was involved in a lot of sport, including action netball, underwater hockey, hammer throw and shot-put,” Maria said.
She received her Eastern Cape colours for underwater hockey and competed at club level in the other disciplines.
Maria grew up in Pretoria before moving to Nelspruit where she worked at the Lowvelder doing page and feature layout and design.
She moved to Port Elizabeth where she studied a BSc environmental science and obtained her honours in geology.
She then worked at Goldfields as an underground geologist until a hiking accident left the bridge of her right foot crushed.
“I love hiking and we were in Eerste Rivier,” Maria said.
“I wanted to take a photo and my mom warned my about going too close to the edge of this section and as I stepped back I slipped and fell four metres.
“My leg bent backwards and the bridge of my foot was crushed.”
At the time Maria was 34 years old and doctors struggled for over two years to fix her foot.
“I was on crutches for over 27 months and eventually one doctor joked with me that they could always cut off my foot.
“I said fine let’s do that but I battled to find a surgeon who would consider the operation.
“My foot was not healing and this was the best solution so eventually after visiting seven surgeons, one finally agreed to perform the amputation,” Maria said.
Maria said that she feels no phantom pain after the amputation and that after the procedure it took some time for her residual limb to heal properly.
“Before you can be fitted for a prosthetic limb, you have to heal completely and this took about three months, a lot longer than I had hoped it would,” said Maria.
She was then fitted with a prosthetic limb and started walking again.
“I love the foot I have now, it is brilliant,” she said.
Having a prosthetic limb comes with its own problems, however.
“Once when I was swimming in the sea my leg came off and I had to swim after it and then try and get it back on in the surf.
“But I think that may have been karma after me that day as a little girl had asked me where my leg had gone and I told her a shark had bitten it off – but not at the beach we were at,” Maria laughed.
She added that what she misses the most is that she can’t sit comfortably on her haunches anymore.
Maria has now completed her masters in palynology at Wits and works on a part-time contract at the university. Palynology is the study of plant pollen, spores and certain microscopic plankton organisms (collectively termed palynomorphs) in both living and fossil form.
She is involved with the Wits Disability Rights Unit, does “Learn to Run” clinics for amputees in conjunction with her prosthetist and wants to educate corporates and the public about all types of disabilities.
Maria’s training is quite strenuous and involves weight training three times a week, as well as field training six afternoons a week, including 50m runs.
Her immediate goals are to focus on discus as shot-put is not offered in her category at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
ALSO READ:
Acting dream becomes Melita’s reality
She also wants to represent South Africa at the 2019 Para Athletics World Championships as she did so this year where she did very well.
She has competed in a number of international and national competitions and said the reason she enjoys shot-put and discus is that they are technique driven.
“Although you need power, technique is actually the all important factor in the disciplines,” she said.
When she is not out on the sports field Maria enjoys gardening, fly tying and painting (in oils and acrylics).
“I am available to do talks at schools and schools are welcome to contact me,” Maria said.
In order to concentrate more on her athletics Maria is in need of a sponsor and any sponsorship would be appreciated.
To organise her to visit a school or to offer sponsorship email her at maria.combrink.geo@gmail.com.
Have a story?
Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za, Leigh Hodgson (journalist) leighh@caxton.co.za or Puleng Sekabate (journalist) pulengs@caxton.co.za.
Remember to visit the Germiston City News on the following social media platforms:
Or add the GCN on WhatsApp 079 406 1181 or BBM (BBM Pin: 7F102137) today, to get all the latest news.
Catch-up on more local news with our sister newspapers Bedfordview Edenvale News, Alberton Record and Kempton Express.
