GALLERY: Watch out Banyana Banyana, here comes Gretel
SUNDOWNER – Rising soccer star Gretel Buttress aspires to be like her hero Janine van Vyk from Banyana Banyana.
Gretel Buttress, centre defence player, has received her Gauteng Provincial Football U15 colours.
Buttress started playing football at the tender age of seven at the Vasco da Gama Football Club in Cape Town.
She then joined Randburg Football Club, a boy’s club, when her family moved to Sundowner in 2011.
At the Randburg Football Club she blossomed into a formidable football player as she puts it.
“I enjoyed playing with the boys because they didn’t make it easy, they played rough and I learned a lot.”
The club then created a female team.
Under the watchful eye of her father and coach Theo Buttress she was elected to attend the U11 District team trials, where she was chosen to play for Rand Central (RCLFA).
Buttress, a Grade 9 pupil at Rand Park High School, said her career continued to grow in strides as she was then selected for the U15 Gauteng Provincial football team.
After being awarded her colours, the team went on to represent Gauteng at the recent Provincial Football Tournament at Nike Sport Centre.
The team won gold after beating the Free State at the finals in Dobsonville.
Buttress aspires to be like her all-time hero Banyana Banyana centre defence player Janine van Vyk.
“She plays for our country and just like me she is centre defence. We work with her a lot at the club and she truly inspires me to be great.”
“I hope to study something in the line of art as a fall-back option. However, I want to play soccer for as long as I possibly can and one day I will represent our country by playing for Banyana Banyana.”
