Mia van Deventer refers to herself as a ‘tomboy’. She has played netball since she was a little girl, but says she would have loved to rather play rugby. Mia’s whole family played netball, which made it the obvious choice when she had to choose between netball and hockey.
This year, during Hoërskool Pionier’s first team netball tour to George, Mia was selected from among 2400 players to go on an England and Wales netball sports tour. She is one of three netball players from Pionier who will attend the tour, following in her older sister’s footsteps eight years later.
Mia and the rest of the tour group will leave for England at the end of September. Unfortunately, the tour is very expensive and Mia needs all the financial assistance she can get. At this stage, Mia and her mother are selling raffle tickets where people can win an expensive Roodeberg 2014 five-litre bottle of wine as the first prize. The second prize is a Roodeberg 2014 three-litre bottle of wine and the third prize is a bottle of 12-year-old KWV brandy. The raffle tickets are selling at R50 each. There is also a second raffle, where the first prize is a Nyala bull, second prize a sheep, and third prize a bicycle. These tickets are also R50. Mia doesn’t sit still and also has what she describes as a ‘side hustle’ where she sells the most delicious biltong to raise funds for her tour.
Not only is Mia an excellent netball player, but she also recently tried her hand at women’s rugby and made the Zululand District team. So the rugby dream is coming true too! Later, she was selected for the KwaZulu-Natal U/18 girls’ team as well. This means she is going on an additional two tours, apart from the netball tour. Mia went to a rugby clinic in Richards Bay earlier this year, where the coaches told her she has the potential to be a formidable player of note. She played in the Zululand District trials, being the first time Mia set foot on a rugby field as a player, but still managed to make a good impression on the coaches. Mia plays ‘hard’ and compares herself to the boys on the field. Mia’s position is prop or blindside flank. She will represent KZN from July 10 to 14 in Potchefstroom, and the Zululand tour is in August. Mia is determined to make a success of her newfound rugby career as well, and dreams of playing for the Springbok women’s team. She will grab every opportunity that presents itself and this makes her a force to be reckoned with.
Mia is strong-minded and her advice to anyone who wants to follow their dreams is: “Believe in yourself and believe you can achieve anything you put your mind to.”
Anyone who is willing to help Mia financially or sponsor her for the tour can contact Belinda on 084 468 6428.
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The news provided to you in this link comes to you from the editorial staff of the Vryheid Herald, a sold newspaper distributed in the Vryheid area.
