The battle is on as first time Women’s Africa Cup of Nations winning coach, Desiree Ellis, swimming coach, Eugene da Ponte and Gymnastics SA’s Ilse Pelser-Roets contest for top honours in the Coach of the Year category at the 2022 Momentum gsport Awards.
Ellis, recently led Banyana Banyana to their first ever Women’s African Cup of Nations triumph after beating Morocco in the final. On top of that achievement, Ellis was named women’s Coach of the Year at the 2022 Confederation of African Football Awards.
“I’d like to say thank you to gsport, it’s amazing to be a finalist for the 2022 Momentum gsport Awards, it says that we are on the right track with this award. I always say if the team does well, individuals get rewarded! I am very grateful to be a finalist,” revealed Ellis.
“My best highlight this year has to be winning the WAFCON for the first time ever and it tops everything else that happened this year,” she continued.
“The Momentum gsport Awards is an amazing initiative, because it awards and rewards every single individual out there be it in sport, style, volunteer, young and upcoming athletes, elite athletes but more than that the whole initiative profiles women in sport.”
Behind every successful athlete is a coach who is going the extra mile to ensure that they achieve their goals. First time finalist, Eugene da Ponte, is the head coach of the Pretoria Aquatic Club and coach of South Africa’s swim sensation Lara van Niekerk.
Da Ponte witnessed his student grab gold in the women’s 50m and 100m breaststroke final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. van Niekerk is also a double finalist at #gsport17.
“I am honoured to be a finalist for the 2022 Momentum gsport Awards. I believe women’s sport in South Africa is producing more and more success stories which need recognition in order to inspire the next wave of young girls and women,” said da Ponte.
“My best highlight of the year was when Lara van Niekerk won gold medals and broke records at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, but on a personal note, would be remiss not mentioning getting engaged in February,” he added.
“The Momentum gsport Awards is a wonderful initiative because women are currently driving sport success in South Africa, which has not always been the case. These awards give these women an opportunity for recognition in their fields and give their achievements exposure to a public that is not always informed of the success of smaller sport.”
Second time finalist Pelser-Roets, who is the team manager and head coach for South Africa’s Women’s Artistic Gymnastics team, is known for the amazing work she has done with South Africa’s first ever artistic gymnast Caitlin Roodkrantz and Naveen Daries to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. This year they qualified for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
“It’s my second time being a finalist at the Momentum gsport Awards and to be amongst the top 3 finalists is an honour. I worked my entire life in gymnastics, first as a gymnast and for the last 23 years as a coach, it’s always just wonderful to be recognised and honoured for the hard work, passion and dedication that goes into helping young girls of the future achieve their dreams and goals,” revealed Pelser.
Pelser-Roets added that the Momentum gsport Awards is necessary because it gives women an opportunity to shine.
“I think it is through awards like this that women become more inspired to reach greater heights. It shows that we can achieve as our male counterparts and often even more. It is wonderful for women to be recognised in this way, not just coaches and the media people, but the athletes that work incredibly hard to achieve,” she concluded.
In 2021, Water Polo Coach, Delaine Mentoor was star of the night winning the Coach of the Year Award.
Check out the latest women’s sport news in the Momentum-powered gsport newsroom and cast your vote for your leading #gsport17 candidate here.
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