Founder and Chairperson of Athletes in Need (AIN), Busang Obakeng Molekane gives readers a glimpse into his life and shares how AIN was initially established.
Througout his life, Busang was raised in between Khuma, Stilfontein and Ikageng in Potchefstroom says his love for sports started at the tender age of seven.
“It started with me participating in long jump and high jump and as time progressed I ventured into various other sports which led to me being awarded the sports man of the year when I was in grade 7,” he said.
His love for sport continued into his High School career, where he played soccer, rugby and still continued taking part in athletics. “In my last year at Boys High, I was named Athlete of the year, Victor Loudorium and I was also the Head of Hostel (Milton House) and deputy president of the school,” he said proudly.
After all the great achievements Busang had attained throughout his schooling career, it only made sense to him to further his love for sports in varsity.
“ I went to the North West University, Potchefstroom compus and studied sports sciences and I was also an athlete of the university where I made it to the national championships with long jump and triple jump,” he said.
“ Through my experiences and challenges, I later worked as a coach at Saints Christian school and was manager of the Potchefstroom u/11 cricket team in 2015,” he said.
Busang and a group of his friends, who were also athletes,experienced obstacles where they encountered the inability to afford proper sports rehabilitation sessions with professionals, decent mentorship, nutritional foods and supplements and appropriate athletic gear,
“ The journey inspired my friends and I to establish a team that consists of youth and former athletes or sports science graduates of the North West University to officially and formally establish the Athletes In Need organization in March 2019,” he said.
Upon the start of AIN, Busang decided it was best to leave his job at Saints Christian so that he could solely focus on the development of young Athletes who come from similar or worse backgrounds as him and help them reach their peak performance.
According to Busang, Athletes In Need is a non-profit organisation that stands for athletes who are in dire need of support to help them reach their athletic dreams. “ Our tagline is “Emancipate the dream ” which solely means that dreams of an athlete should be given a chance and that all dreams truly matter irrespective of your background,:” he explained.
He further explained that the AIN logo resembles a portion of the Olympic rings which in the athletic world is the epitome in an Athlete’s career.
According to Busang, AIN is guided by four key pillars which tackle various aspects of an athlete’s career, namely; sports development , education department, entrepreneurship development, and social services.
Each pillar has its own key performance indicators and these are weighed through the programs and initiatives under each one of them.
“ We get sponsors through applying for almost every opportunity presented in the newspapers or outside,” Busang said.
“We are also a youthful and social organisation so we believe in networking and attending other peoples initiatives in order to enlarge our network in terms of sponsorships and partnerships,
“ We believe in long lasting relationships, so we try by all means to maintain an Olympic standard representation when presented with an opportunity to carry out a specific goal or program, ” the 26 year old explained.
Busang added that AIN’s biggest achievement since inception is the Provincial sports award they received in 2022 for best Community Sport Developer in the North West Province at the North sports awards in suncity. “We take serious heed of professionalism and corporatizing our organisation because we are on a quest to prove that an athlete’s dreams matter and remains our benchmark,” he explained.
So far, Premier foods (Blue ribbon) has been the organisations longest sponsor ensuring that Athletes are always fed during their initiatives.
“ The other longest serving partner in carrying out our programs and initiatives is the JB Marks local Municipal office as well as the National Youth Services unit of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) that sponsors our social services programmes throughout the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District,” Busang added.
Though AIN has encountered many highs, one of the biggest challenges they have experienced is when sponsors and partners drop them at the last hour after they have committed to serving a specific course within the communities but despite this, the organisation continues to put the needs of athletes first.
“ The next initiative we will rollout is called Gift A Sports Apparel, which is an initiative that was brought together to counter the needs of athletes for appropriate athletic gear such as sports shoes or soccer boots,” Busang explained
In 2021 AIN donated a total of 83 soccer boots to local residing male and female footballers. “ This year, we are looking to donate a total of 150 netball shoes in respect of the netball player’s needs and this year’s netball world cup happening in July here in South Africa,” Busang said.
The first edition of this year’s #GiftASportsApprel initiative will take place at Ikageng stadium on the 28th of April 2023, where 35 netball shoes will be donated to netball players in need within the JB Marks local Municipality.
The other upcoming event is the Local Entrepreneurs Development programme that will take place in May where a skills development organisation will provide 90 youth entrepreneurs under our Entrepreneurs Development department with a business financial literacy workshop.
AIN can be reached either through Facebook at Athletes In Need or Instagram at Athletes In Need npc. Alternatively Busang can be contacted on either 067 072 4518/ 084 999 3612 or email them at athletesinneedinfo@gmail.com.
