Six years of putting in the hard yards paid off for Heideveld Basketball Club’s (HBC) Tayra Zonn, 15, a Grade 10 pupil at Heideveld High, who was selected captain of the national under-16 side that took part in the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Tyra, along with Joshua Seale in the boys’ division, are flying the flag for club and country at the Games which was first held in Mozambique in 2004.
This year’s Games, which end on Monday, was the 9th edition of the bi-ennial multi-sport championship and last held in South Africa in 2008. It features the cream of the continent’s under-20 sporting crop, competing in various codes.
As far as shooting hoops is concerned, Heideveld has established itself as a basketball stronghold, so it’s hardly surprising that club members would attract the attention of national selectors.
One of four siblings and introduced to the game by a friend, Deago Frans, basketball is a family affair in the Zonn household as her brother Tino also plays for the club.
Competitive by nature, Tayra’s responsibility as a point guard is to run her team’s offensive line, to spread the ball, making sure it gets to the right player at the right time.
HBC senior player and under-16 coach Chaunees Goliath, 23, has known the teenager since she started playing. “She’s always in practice, a disciplined player, always asking when she does something wrong to better herself. She never gives up, she always pushes till the last minute,” said Goliath.
A prolific player herself, Goliath, a shooting guard has been selected to play for semi-pro team Western Cape Mountaineers for two consecutive years to compete in the top flight of SA basketball, the Basketball National League (BNL).
Assistant coach Tayla Brink, also had nothing but praise for the young playmaker, saying she has what it takes to compete at a high level.
“Tyra has been the captain of her team since she was 12 years old and she is the captain of the national team. I’ve always pushed her to be a leader and she has always taken the responsibility with her head held high,” said Brink.
“She was first selected for the under-15 provincial team last month and then a week later there were trials for the South African team and she was selected as well. So given that both tournaments happened at the same time, she had to choose one team,” Brink said.
“There are so many things that make her special, I’ll try to narrow it down. Firstly, she is very strong headed but she will always take the step back and acknowledge when she’s wrong. As a young player her responsibility for her actions and her teammates actions has always been outstanding,” she said.
“Being the exceptional player that she is, most of the opposing teams always try to take her out the game, whether it be by fouling her or double or triple teaming her. Despite all of the challenges she faced she continues to strive and improve,” Brink said.
“HBC has always been trying to promote and grow the sport and our players. Heideveld started at the bottom in terms of equipment, funds and so on. Now we have three active courts with 11 teams, from under-12s to super league for both males and females. Our plan going forward is to continue expanding the sport in other communities,” she said.
Denwin Jones, a teacher at Heideveld High, who runs the school’s basketball programme and also coaches at HBC, says his players’ selection for the national side took place at the beginning of the year.
“Phase 1 was provincial selection where they had to choose the best five under-15 players in the province. The selected five players had to go to the South African trials where there were 45 players per gender. This was a weekend camp. Both Tyra and Joshua made the cut for the final South African team of 12 who competed in Malawi,” he said.
“They are both hard workers and that’s why they stand out from the rest. Both of them are hungry to play and also play in an older age group. Tyra also plays with the HBC women’s side and she has a killer left hand and enormous skill. Joshua has been dominating in the under-16 and under-18 leagues in Cape Town Basketball Association. He is very aggressive and he dunks over his opponents,” said Jones.
He said it’s not just players that shine at Heideveld, but also administrators and coaches.
“Basketball in Heideveld has been growing. We have developed in many aspects over the years.
“We have coaches and managers for every single team. We have developed a good amount of technical officials who get call ups for local and national tournaments.”
Jones said it’s no coincidence that Heideveld is called “The Home of Basketball in Cape Town”.
“Basketball is the sport of choice at the school and has the most participants. Former teacher, Ismail Meyer who has been our school basketball team manager is still actively involved and plays a big role in our basketball development at school. The club and its stakeholders play a major role in the development of our programme and that’s why we have a joint programme which works pretty well,” he said.
A programme that works well, worked wonders for Tyra and her teammates as all that’s left for them is to develop and work on their game.
“I love everything about basketball. I just enjoy playing basketball,” she said
- Meanwhile, sports writer Gary Lemke caught up with Tayra following her side’s 9-6 defeat to Zambia in a 3×3 girls’ under-15 match at Lilongwe’s Silver Stadium, home to Malawi’s Premier Division Football Club, Silver Strikers.
Sitting on the floor between the main structure, behind the main structure of the 21 000 capacity stadium, between the netball and basketball court, was Tyra in animated discussion with her teammates Bontle Mokoatle, Aluto Gqotso and Cleo Khongolo who listened attentively to their captain.
There was no finger pointing, no emotional recriminations. Just a group chat with four under-15 basketballers who know that while winning is the main thing, it’s not the only thing, reports Lemke, in an article published on the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) official TeamSA website.
“We come together as a family in basketball,” says Tayra. “We keep our heads held up high even when we lose.”