The streets of the tiny Phalaborwa township, set within the Northern tip of Limpopo are all the time awash with the younger enjoying soccer – thought to be essentially the most infrastructure and gear-economic sporting code. Yet there are those that yearned to partake in a sport that responds to their ardour and aggressive edge.
The zeal to be challenged and provides expression to which means kindled the love of cricket in Marcia Letsoalo. At the tender age of 13, when her friends had hassle discovering their spot in sport, Letsoalo was already within the area throwing the cricket ball round.
ALSO READ: Where is Klusener now? The Zulu who almost grew to become SA’s ICON
Letsoalo refused to be deterred by the social assemble that obtained on the time, which scorned on girls enjoying cricket. Her thirst for accomplishment may solely be quenched by seeing herself enjoying cricket.
“In those days women were discouraged from playing cricket as it was seen as an exclusive men’s sport. I broke ranks with those stereotypes and decided that if there are no women playing cricket, I’d go and play with men,” reminisced Letsoalo.
She joined a neighborhood cricket membership (Foskor Cricket Club) the place she was its solely feminine member and by no means flinched on the gender disparity. “I played with the likes of Mandla Mashimbyi and Ethy Mbhalati and today still cherish the experience,” recollects Letsoalo.
The spoils started to yield. In the yr 2000 she was drafted into the provincial U19 workforce representing Limpopo. Yet the bug for progress gnawed on her to aspire for extra – to ply her sport at the next degree.
ALSO READ: Bavuma says Proteas are “in it to win it”
Marcia Letsoalo excelled towards the percentages
Ethy Mbhalati, who was with the Northern Cricket Union on the time, persuaded Letsoalo to pasture for progress prospects in Pretoria. Ever calculative, Letsoalo noticed motive in amalgamating her Management Diploma research at Tshwane North College with searching for enjoying alternatives.
“While studying, I joined the Atteridgeville Women’s Cricket Club, and in 2005 won the Player of the Year accolade. Juggling between my studies and playing cricket put a strain on my finances as I had to raise transport money to Atteridgeville,” she confessed. To obviate the problem and lift funds, Letsoalo began teaching the U13 and U16 buddying girls cricketers. Proteas Women Delmi Tucker is certainly one of her U13 proteges.
“It is in those coaching episodes that I developed the love to share my skills with emerging talent. These youngsters displayed such a pulpable zeal to play the game which was impossible to ignore. I committed myself to hone their skills and grow their wings so they could fly and become women cricketers of the future. It was such a fulfilling emotional proposition, which I carry to this day,” tearily stated Letsoalo.
ALSO READ: Gwavu appointed as Proteas white-ball fielding coach
As if rewarding her new-found ardour for improvement, luck adopted. In 2006, Karen Smithies, who was coach on the time, invited her for trials on the Northern Cricket Union.
According to Letsoalo, the prospect of carrying the “daisy shirt” (Titans attire) was exhilarating as a lot because it was intimidating. Yet it was the chance that she has been ready for to flex her sport, scale new heights and problem new horizons.
And she was prepared. Letsoalo handed her trials with flying colors, was enlisted on the Titans Women’s workforce, and as a cherry on prime, gained the Player of the Year crown in that season (2006). She even coached the Northern Cricket Unions’ U13, U16 and U19 groups. The skies had opened for Letsoalo, and there was no going again. Her dedication and urge for food to stamp her authority as a powerhouse in girls’s cricket was on the highest crescendo. She was beating her personal drum. She was unstoppable.
“In 2006, when the call-up to trial for the Proteas Women’s team came, it found me waiting and ready to wear the coveted jersey and serve my beloved country,” stated Letsoalo. In 2007 she joined the Proteas Women’s workforce and have become a formidable arsenal in its bowling division. She was to make historical past by turning into the primary black African within the setup. Her spotlight was taking three wickets in a nail-biting contest towards Pakistan in 2007. “The first wicket just drove me to deliver more. It was like I was in a trance,” she quipped.
ALSO READ: Proteas girls’s legend Trisha Chetty hangs up her gloves
A limited-overs profession to recollect
Between 2007 and 2017, Letsoalo appeared in two Test matches, 68 One-Day Internationals and 48 Twenty20 Internationals for South Africa.
“Everything happened so fast that I couldn’t even find the time to pinch myself. It was so sublime. Our first tour, and my first time out of the country, was to the West Indies. Bangladesh, England, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands later, I count myself lucky to have been able to represent my country. I made friendships around the world which are enduring to this day. I learnt a lot from my team-mates and my experiences with them will remain indelible” testified Letsoalo.
There had been lighter moments too. “On a tour to the West Indies, myself and team-mates Dinesha Devanarain and Trisha Chetty scoffed at the proposition that we apply sunscreen, relying on the endurance of our skins. However, the Caribbean heat humbled us: we got busy scavenging for the next available suncream,” Letsoalo bellowed in laughter on the reminiscence.
After an illustrious cricket-playing profession, Letsoalo crossed-over to administration. She joined Cricket South Africa’s Centre of Excellence (COE) in 2018 as a girls’s cricket administrator. Her resolution was fuelled by the will to offer again and proceed her trajectory to empower the expansion of ladies’s cricket in South Africa.
ALSO READ: Proteas girls’s legend Dane van Niekerk confirms retirement
Letsoalo represented South Africa as a part of the all-female administration workforce on the inaugural ICC U19 Women’s Cricket World Cup that the nation hosted from 14 to 29 January 2023.
“Women’s cricket is in transition, a transition for the higher. In our days, girls’s cricket was not broadcast on tv, now it’s. There had been no contracts for girls cricketers on the time; now there are. It is equally vital for our girls cricketers to reciprocate the privileges and positive aspects made by exhibiting up.
“I want to be there to assist the process: to inspire young women cricketers to aspire to become the next generation of excellence in the game. I want them to be ready when they receive that call-up for national duty,” declared Letsoalo.
Of her personal success, Letsoalo, additionally dubbed the mom of the “repetition until perfection” philosophy stated: “Getting to where I got was not easy. It took the proverbial blood, sweat and tears. I dug deep into the armoury of my soul, took a serious walk around myself, and determined that cricket would be my lifeblood. My story is that of determination, resilience, grit, and sheer love for the game,” she concluded.
Source link
