Everyone was caught by a curved ball – so to speak – when it appeared that that the municipality of Musina was on strike, and wouldn’t be able to help much with arrangements in that town. This didn’t deter the Heroes though. With the help of the local sports council an impromptu clinic was held at a local school, and their time and energy spent in the town went to a worth cause despite the wrangling going on at official level. Nothing keeps a good sportsperson down!

Would she rather be climbing mountains? Evelina tries her hand at golf.

Would she rather be climbing mountains? Evelina tries her hand at golf.

In the next town, Makhado, things went slightly better, despite it being a Sunday and the town’s streets being almost deserted. The Heroes received an official welcome at the local municipality building, and after a brief lunch went to the venue of the coaching clinic at the town’s showgrounds. They were greeted by dead silence and not a soul in sight. So they they had to entertain themselves for a while. Now, how do top sportspeople entertain themselves on a lazy Sunday afternoon? they play sport, of course!  In no time a few of the Heroes were playing cricket among themselves – which of course gave top cricketer Daleen an unfair advantage – while some distance away others were receiving golfing lessons from someone who had brought a club and a few golf balls along.

It’s worthy of repeating – nothing keeps a good sportsperson down!

After a while some young people started drifting in, and soon enough the coaching clinic got under way, though it wasn’t the highlight event they were at Tzaneen or Makhado, or even at the dusty field in Mogwadi. But there’s still a firm, highly visible determinination among the Heroes and their entourage to, no matter what, make sure they leave a stamp on every community they visit.

The municipality’s inability to provide a coherent list of the local beneficiaries of SRSA’s equipment handover meant, once again, that the cricket bats, softball and cricket helmets, whistles, stop watches and other items stayed in the  entouragevehicles, rather than being passed on to the municipality. Since this is the fourth time it’s happened on the walk, this approach to helping rural communities with sport will probably have to be reconsidered, perhaps by bringing on board other community organisations such as NGOs and schools.

To stops remain – the village of Giyani and the final destination, Thohoyandou.