She believes that team spirit unites a team.

In this week's blog we feature a player from Mathebistad outside Hammanskraal. She goes by the name Letlhogonolo Maluleke, also known as Green and she is 24 years of age. Letlhogonolo studies BHSc in medical orthotics and prosthetics at the Tshwane University of Technology. Her current team is Vikings Ladies F.C and she plays forward.

As she was asked at what age she started playing football she said,” I started playing at an early age which was 11 ”. Football was something she was passionate about, she continued to say,” at that age, I was the youngest in my team and the team name was Loxion Kulture, but unfortunately, the team collapsed". In the year 2010 she started playing football again, as she stopped playing because her team collapsed, she played for a team called DRM United. The team didn't last long, as it somehow stopped functioning. I always wanted to see myself playing football, so I settled for street football said Letlhogonolo.

In 2012 when she was doing her grade 11, Letlhogonolo and her friends decided to join the school football team. She then joined another team called Manchester United Ladies. As she was playing for the team, they managed to win the Mayor’s cup in 2013. It was a cheerful moment for her, winning the cup meant something big to her. In the years 2014 and 2015, she was fortunate enough to play for her Province, North West. Then in 2016 she joined the Tshwane University of Technology B team known as Vikings Ladies F.C. "Throughout my TUT 2016 and 2017 seasons, I managed to play for University Sports South Africa (USSA) and the Varsity Cup which were the highlights of my football career ", said Letlhogonolo.

The reason behind her passion and love for football is that she felt at peace when she was in the field, regardless of the state she was in when she was in the field with the ball on her feet Letlhogonlo always felt at ease. The love for football is my main drive said Letlhogonolo.

The year 2019 was the most difficult year for Letlhogonolo as she had to take a break from playing football. She had to take a break because of her studies, the course required her to move to another province to do her in-services training. She said,” it was heartbreaking not to be able to play football for the whole season". But that didn't stop her from playing football again. After completing her in-services she came back to play for Vikings Ladies F.C, as this was her team from 2016 till now 2020.

In her years of playing for Vikings Ladies F.C, she has indeed experienced team spirit, as she said," it was the team spirit that united the team ". She continues to say," team spirit is what connects the team, it builds the team and it somehow makes one belief in oneself and to believe in your teammates". Letlhogonolo believes that without team spirit the team won’t connect. Her personal experience of the team spirit was back in 2017 when her team was going through the most. It was when they lost their first game against TUT Sosha. The whole team was down and discouraged she said. But through the strongest bond they had, they managed to uplift each other and won the league. That is when she saw that a team with a strong team spirit can do wonders.

Letlhogonolo says she had a short term goal but unfortunately age is not on her side, so she decided to focus more on her studies. She continues to say, that in the future she will fulfill her long term goal which is to run her very own foundation and develop young female stars.

If you are a footballer, you must have a role model right? Well, Letlhogonolo shares the name of her role model, and her name is Abby Wambach. "Her character, the way she carries herself in the field, and not forgetting her fighting spirit is what made me follow Abby",said Letlhogonlo. She used to watch the World Cup early in the morning just to watch Abby play. “I would then wake my brothers up in the morning just to play with them and show them what I saw Abby did in the World Cup”, said Letlhogonolo.

She shares words of motivation which she says to herself before every game. The words of motivation read,

Make it count,

Leave your heart and soul out on that field,

Make them remember WHO YOU ARE.

Make them scared to set foot on that field with you ever again

Make them remember WHO YOU ARE!

They will remember WHO YOU ARE.

MAKE IT COUNT

Every tackle, make it count

Every challenge, make it count.

Every contest, make it count.

Every shot and pass make it count.

She would also like to share a video with you. I hope players get motivated and stay safe.