What everyone can learn from South African sports legends

What makes sports stars legends after they are done with their professional sports careers? It’s easy: being a motivation and inspiration to their fans and showing them what they have achieved in life. What did they do and how did they react to obstacles in their sports careers? What drove these legend sports stars, former professional players in their sports careers? Just like your sport icons have sayings about motivation that inspire you, they also had their own inspiration from their sports icons.

There are two different types of motivation, internal motivation and external motivation. Internal motivation is where you do something to make yourself feel better about yourself, a personal reward. This also drives you to learn more and develop yourself. External motivation is where you are motivated by a reward, fame or money. You will improve yourself and work towards it knowing that you will receive something.

Some of South Africa’s sport legends that left a mark in the industry.

Gary Player – professional golf player, born 1 November 1935

One of the greatest golfers ever. His mother died at the age of 8 from cancer. His father, even though he was away from home often working on the gold mines, took out a loan to buy Gary his first golf clubs. Gary became a professional golfer at the age of 17. He won the South African Open 13 times, he claimed the Australian Open title 7 times and the World Match Play Championships 5 times. He is not just a golfer but a business man as well. The Gary Player Foundation was founded in 1983 and more than $30-million was raised through charity golf events for humanitarian endeavours. One of his famous quotes is: “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

Lucas Radebe – former South African footballer, born 12 April 1969

One of South Africa’s greatest footballers ever. He was born in Diepkloof, Soweto and was one of eleven children. At the age of 15 he was sent to the then Bophuthatswana by his parents and there he joined the Bophuthatswana Soccer League, formally known as ICL Birds. In 1989, after being recruited, he joined Kaizer Chiefs, one of South Africa’s top soccer clubs. He is a sporting icon in South Africa and has earned a legendary status with his English team Leeds United F.C. To reward his role in fighting racism in soccer as well as his work with children he received the FIFA Fair Play Award in 2000.

Bruce Fordyce – South African marathon and ultramarathon athlete, born 3 December 1955

The “Comrades King”. He was born in Hong Kong and moved to Johannesburg with his family when he was 13 years old. He is a nine times Comrades Marathon winner (of which eight were consecutive: 1981 to 1988) and three times in a row winner of the London to Brighton Marathon (1981 to 1983). He also introduced parkrun to South Africa, a free, weekly organised 5km run/walk all over South Africa. One of his sayings is: “Racing should never be an ordeal, rather an enjoyable and life-enhancing experience.”

Natalie du Toit – South African Olympic swimmer, born 29 January 1984

Known for her performance at the 2004 Paralympic Games where she won five gold medals and one silver medal. She started her international swimming career at the age of 14. Unfortunately, at the age of 17, she was in an accident and her left leg had to be amputated at the knee. But three months after the accident, even before she started to walk again, she was back in the pool. Her goal to compete in the 2002 Commonwealth Games. At the age of 18, at the 2002 Commonwealth Games she won, in world record time, the multi-disability 50m freestyle and the multi-disability 100m freestyle. One of her famous quotes: “Even when bad things happen you have to try to use those bad things in a positive manner and really just take the positive out of it.”

Bryan Habana – former South African rugby union player, born 12 June 1983

Springbok record holder for tries in tests as a wing and for the most tries overall for South Africa and most capped Springbok wing. He started his rugby career in 2003 as part of the South African Sevens team. In 2004 he made his Currie Cup debut for the Golden Lions and was voted the country’s most promising player. At the age of 21 he made his first Test debut and won SARU Player of the Year in 2005, 2007 and 2012. In 2007 he competed in a 100-meter race against a cheetah to raise awareness of the cheetah being classified as an endangered species.

These are just a few of South Africa’s sport legends. Some of South Africa’s best professional sport stars are now motivational and sport speakers, passing on and sharing their motivation, determination and inspiration in life. But what can you learn from them? Create your own life plan, you know what you want to achieve in life, set your goals and timeframes. If you see that something is not going to work as planned, improve your plan, remember that you have a goal to achieve. Find your spunk in life, don’t look at the reasons not to try something, find the determination to succeed. Get your head in the game, you have to be mentally and physically prepared to achieve your goal, find your quiet place to refocus when things get tough. Everything in life is not always a paved road, take responsibility for the mistakes and wrong decisions you make. Improve your life plan from what you have learned. Find your support system, your team, your family, people who respect you and want to see you achieve your goal in life.