Sinalo Jafta: “I Want to Leave a Legacy”

Momentum Proteas wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta will take part in her debut ICC Women’s T20 World Cup when South Africa take on Sri Lanka at Newlands Cricket Ground on Friday, 10 February 2023.

Hailing from Butterworth in the Eastern Cape, Jafta says her inclusion in the World Cup squad is a dream come true, as she has always aspired to represent the green and gold of Mzansi on the biggest occasions.

Growing up, Jafta’s passion for sport was evident from a tender age as she dabbled in hockey and athletics. She later found a undying love for cricket, which she was determined to turn into a professional career path.

In 2016, the now 28-year-old made her official national team debut, which she regards as a major highlight in her career to date.

In this chat with gsport’s Tlamelo Kganakga, Jafta shares her journey and the current hype around the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on home soil.

Sinalo, thank you so much for making time for us! Before we get to chatting about the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup – let’s talk more about you. Please tell us about yourself and where you are from.

My name is Sinalo Jafta. I’m a Momentum Proteas wicketkeeper/batter, I’m from a small town outside East London called Butterworth. I’m raised by a single mom, Lumka Jafta and I have a younger brother who is currently 16 turning 17 this year and he’s actually one of my biggest inspirations and I just want to make him proud each and every single day. He doesn’t know it but like he’s my driving force and my mom has given up so much for me to actually be where I’m at currently. So that’s who I am.

When and where did your love for sport begin and why cricket in particular?

My love for sport began at a very young age. I remember primary school or Grade 1, I was at a school that didn’t offer sport and the one morning, my mom had a meeting with the head mistress at the time, that I have to be put in a school of sport because whenever there was sports around during school breaks, I was there. So, my mom made a sacrifice for me to go to boarding school, 45 minutes away and she couldn’t drive me in and out each and every, so the option was to go to boarding school. So, from Grade 2, all the way to matric I was in boarding school.

It actually started with hockey – hockey and athletics were my biggest ones. When I got to high school, I just thought of playing cricket and even though I wasn’t interested in it that much, I still stuck to it and played. I used to watch test cricket and I loved everything about it. I have always loved watching cricket and hockey was my main focus – I always wanted to wear the green and gold for hockey. And why cricket, honestly speaking, hockey wasn’t professional, and cricket was and there was no chance that I would actually work a 9 to 5. I’ve always wanted to be a professional athlete and cricket gave me that and I worked for it.

Besides sport, what else are you doing and how do you manage your time?

Besides cricket I’ve always had this dream of just giving back to the same community that built me up. And raised by a single parent, I had to learn that she could never do it alone and there were so many people around that were pinnacle in my growth in sport.

Sometimes mom couldn’t afford for me to go to hockey tournaments, which was expensive, but I ended up going and I know for a fact that it was the people around and when it came to it that I had the means of actually giving back – I actually started my own foundation where I bridge the gap. I’m in that, that’s part of our biggest directions as to support people whether it’s financially or just any means possible to get them to their hope because I got that opportunity and it’s only fitting that I give what is given to me back.

Let’s shift focus to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. What are you looking forward to and how are preparations going for you personally and the team?

Being selected in the squad has always been a dream of mine, this being my debut T20 World Cup. Anytime I get selected to wear the badge, for me it’s always an honour and a privilege.

What I’m looking forward to is just being in this home World Cup, watching and seeing the growth of women’s cricket in this country and the preparations have been really good coming off of series now against West Indies and India which for me was the biggest growth learnings.

Taking the gloves from Trisha Chetty, I’ve learnt so much from her, she’s always been the one person that I look up to and now it’s only fitting that whatever she’s taught me that I take it out and do it on the field.

The preparations have been really good and for the team, I love where we are currently. We are all focused and we all know the job at hand.

What would it mean for you to win this T20 World Cup at home?

It would mean everything!  I think if anyone deserves it, it’s this team. It would mean so much, like I’m speechless just thinking about it, but we don’t want to get too carried away, we still have to get to the starting point but everyone dreams of winning a World Cup and for me that would be like a dream come true, oh my word!

What are some of the challenges you have faced and how did you overcome them?

In cricket, there’s never been a challenge from a financial point of view, but in hockey, I really struggled with that. Hockey being such an expensive sport and obviously being raised by single parent. I remember when I was in university, I actually used to coach hockey for extra money as a student.

Recently, the challenges that I have recently faced is the mental battles, skill-wise, fitness-wise always good but my mind it was nowhere – the mental aspect of the game was absolutely nowhere and I took two months out of the game after the Commonwealth Games and it was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made because it made me tackle things that I never thought that I’d tackle.

It wasn’t easy, it was probably the one of the toughest and most challenging periods of my life, a lot of things had to change. The one would be: I refused to show any vulnerability and now if I don’t show any vulnerability, I kind of know that I’m slipping and being away and focusing on that aspect of the game has actually made me one more calmer because the noise and the anxiety is not there and I also know that there are ways that you can face anxiety and it’s never set in stone.

One of my biggest things that I’ve learnt just going and taking time off for 2 months was that I am human, and I will make mistakes and it’s just accepting that and realising that I have to kind of let go of any of my old ideas and just focus on who I want to become now and what tone I want to set for the next generation.

What has been some of your career highlights to date?

It will have to be my debut in 2016, definitely one of my biggest highlights in cricket and I always think back to it.

Another one would be going to India for the first time and getting one game, having thousands of people in the stands. It’s one thing I never expected to ever play in, always staying calm, under pressure… that was the biggest learning curve.

And as of recently, the World Cup in New Zealand last year… that played a role in where I want to be as a cricketer, the Commonwealth Games and the test match. Last year was filled with milestones that I’ve achieved and opportunities that I will always treasure.

Who are some of the sportswomen you admire and why?

I really admire Serena Williams. Just watching her over the years, watching how strong she is, just her fight back mentality and also facing adversity with so much poise and calmness within her, always been honest that’s what I’ve learnt and followed in her life and journey and tennis in general.

The second would have to be Caster Semenya. I had the opportunity of actually being in Potchefstroom with her for a bit and just her work ethic for me, was probably one of the biggest highlights or everything that people don’t see behind the scenes and also like outside of that she’s a really nice person to talk to and just be around. She’s very humble and that’s who I inspire to be.  That’s literally the two on the top of my head for me that have literally had a big role in my life.

For those who don’t know about your SJ10 Foundation, please can you share insight.

Actually, SJ10 foundation was really something that I’ve been planting a seed to towards for the last 3/4 years, since I’ve been in the team regularly from 2019. It was always about how am I going to give back and then last year I was like if I don’t do it now I’ll never actually do it.

So ,what we are doing is the sports bra initiative, where I am actually a director of the menstruation foundation where we give sanitary pads and vending machines to schools within South Africa and other countries around Africa – about serenity education and period property in our country…

SJ10 came about what else can we do and sport was the first one because I’ve realised sport was a really expensive and not everyone can afford it. Honestly, how do we expect a child to run if they’re not wearing the right bra, so that’s when we came in to find out how we can support. Besides equipment, there are other areas that you can always support, and sport bras are high on the list.

The other one was to eventually give bursary funds for kids to go to schools where girls cricket is the big focus and help them out with their education. As for me, being raised by a mother who is a teacher, education is very important to me and I want them to get the same opportunities I got, full structures and you know just consistently being supported so that’s what SJ10 is about, supporting grassroot cricket for young girls. I’m sending them to school, making sure that they have the right stuff for school from stationary, school shoes because not everyone is that blessed.

What’s your take on South Africa hosting five World Cup tournaments and what impact it will do to women in sport?

The one thing that I will say is, it’s about time! As I look at netball, I look at the soccer, I look at rugby – these are really hard working individuals that deserve every accolade coming their way.

The women’s game is growing fast, obviously it’s not where we wanted to it be because you want to see more growth and yes, there is growth, but we can’t be stagnant.

And 5 World Cups, it’s absolutely brilliant and just looking at the women’s game from 5 years ago you can see the margins and I can’t wait to see it grow even further as we are going in the right direction.

What did you think of the SAU 19’s performance during the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup?

They were absolutely brilliant, pity with them losing one game and not qualify for the semifinals. One thing I admired was the fight back mentality from each and every single player in the squad from 1 all the way to 15, because it takes the whole squad, it’s never just the playing eleven. And, the girls that didn’t play, showed character and invested in the team and were part of the team and they actually gave motivation. I know it inspire me to give it all we have for this upcoming T20 World Cup.

What’s your greatest career ambition?

Just to leave a legacy within the game. I think that’s what all athletes aspire to be, to leave a legacy. How I do it is by being a person of integrity, being honest in what I do and just being myself. Never change for anything and always stick to who I want to be, who I want the kids to see and being humble on and off the field.

I think the one thing I learnt from taking time off, is you can’t be two different people, you have to kind of be the same person on the field as well as off the field. Even though the ruthless mentality comes in, you should also be very firm on how you want to be outside the field because cricket is a stage in my life and I want to make sure that it’s the best chapter in my book of life.

What’s your advice to women and young girls who aspire to get into sport?

There are so many avenues to get into sport and the one advice that I would give is to silence the noise, put your head down and work because personally you know where you want to go and once you get there it’s even sweeter even though there’s going to be people who are mediocre, who are going to try to bring you down, that’s okay, that’s all up to them.

But one thing, stand firm and never change who you are for someone else.  That’s something I fell victim to, but it’s good that I realized that I don’t need to change who I am. Use every opportunity to grow, if it doesn’t happen now, it doesn’t mean it will never happen. So don’t give up.