In last week’s gsport Twitter Space edition, host Oarabile Diphoko spoke to former SA Hockey captain Marsha Cox and UJ Women’s Football head coach Nthabeleng Modiko on leadership in women’s sport.
Currently working as MC for the 2023 FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup in South Africa, Cox chatted about her life since retirement from playing the sport in 2015.
“I always felt that there have been aspects in my career that I was lacking support in, and I really wanted to use my own experience to give back and equip other athletes with what I was missing.
“I went into athlete representation in various athlete committees, where could learn how to express our voices and mentor others.”
The 40-year-old ended off by encouraging the public to support the women’s teams at the Indoor Hockey World Cup: “I do believe we need to make heroes out of our female hockey stars and we need to give them more of the limelight. We need to keep spreading the word, share everything on social media and we need to encourage people to either buy tickets or watch the games online and on TV.”
Nthabeleng Modiko, who is also known as “Coach D”, had a phenomenal 2022 which saw her winning four major tournaments as head coach of the UJ Ladies –Engen Knockout Challenge, Engen Champ of Champs, the FNB Women’s Varsity Football Cup and the USSA Football Championships.
“2022 was such a hectic and demanding year, although it was also gracious to me. It was my first year of coaching at the highest level and I was already getting the recognition in terms of being a winning coach in so many tournaments. I would like to thank the University of Johannesburg’s sports department for having faith in me and my abilities.”
Speaking on the challenges she has faced so far in her career, Coach D added, “This industry is quite brutal, and I think women in sport deserve to be crowned everywhere they are. Sports can be so rewarding but it will also see you having to make so many sacrifices. Being in a male-dominated sport, no one believes that a woman can lead a first team. There is always this belief that someone else higher up than you is making all the decisions and we are not afforded the opportunity to be in the driving seat. In recent years there has been a lack of support and representation for women coaches and now I see more and more of us coming through and making it to these top positions.”
Adding to the common topic of “2023 being the year of women’s sport”, the UJ Coach of the Year mentioned: “It should actually be called the century of the women. We need to look everywhere else, women have been dominating. Look at Penny Heyns and Natalie du Toit, they showed me what one has to do and go through, in order to make it in the sport you are so madly in love with.”
In closing, Coach D is looking forward to the rest of 2023, “Without getting ahead of myself, I want to add onto the things I achieved last year, whether it is qualifications or competitions, I would like to be able to defend those titles. I would also like to promote younger girls, to ensure that that they get to experience the highest level of women’s football.”
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