3 minute read
Boxer edges closer to Olympic dream
TO PROVE HIM WRONG, Sentile joined a boxing club where his older brother was already a member. “Every boy would want to make his dad proud,” Sentile says. “Having seen how proud my father was, how he would react when my brother’s coach used to tell him how a boxing tournament had gone, I decided to follow suit.”
Sentile, who is pursuing a BA degree in psychology at UWC, says he joined the club in his neighbourhood of Site C in Khayelitsha, won his first bout and was named the boxer of the tournament after his second match. He ditched other sporting codes he was involved with, such as football, rugby and cricket, to focus on boxing. Among his impressive achievements since 2009, Sentile has been a Western Cape champion in different weight categories and currently holds the Under-57 kg title.
The Western Cape Boxing Organisation selected Sentile and three other boxers to represent the province at the South African National Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) trials in December, despite the fact there were no boxing tournaments or training camps last year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“Last year was a very diffi cult year for many of us as students because we are not used to e-learning. But we had to adapt. I was busy trying to adapt to that and the coach (Ginger Mapasa) was pushing me to prepare for the trials too,” says Sentile.
Sentile had to train hard at the UWC Gym and at Khayelitsha Boxing Academy, training with professional boxers in Cape Town to prepare for the trials. His eff orts paid off as he won the fi rst two bouts at the event in Dundee against opponents from Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal before losing the fi nal match to a boxer from Gauteng by one point through a split decision.
“The organisers felt that both of us had a potential to be in the national team so we were both selected for the trials where our characters were tested further,” says Sentile.
Following the trials, Sentile and another Western Cape boxer were selected to the provisional Sanabo squad for the World Olympic Qualifiers. The squad will attend a training camp at which the final Sanabo team will be picked to represent South Africa at the qualifiers scheduled to take place in Paris, France. On the verge of realising his dream of representing the country, Sentile says: “This means a lot to me. If 2020 was a mess, this was a blessing. For most people like me, last year was a disaster – until that moment when I had to go there and fight.
“It’s one of my dreams to compete in France. I think I have all the resources I need. I have everything I need from the university, from my coach and from my teammates. I have what it takes to go and come back with a gold medal in the qualifi ers or even in the Olympics. I train Mondays to Sundays and the university has assigned a personal trainer to me to help with strength and conditioning.”
Sentile feels he made the right decision to attend UWC to further his development in both academics and sport. He says, “I remember when I was in high school our coach’s motto was ‘guys let’s use boxing to educate ourselves’. I almost signed a professional contract during my gap year in 2015 because I was training with pro boxers and getting off ers that were diffi cult to refuse. But I knew from a young age that our coach was against turning professional because you would not get the opportunity to get funding at university.
“The coach would often cite Phumlani Nkqetho as an example. Phumlani is actually the one who encouraged me to apply to UWC. Campus was not even a dream for me until Phumlani told me that he was here and that meant it was possible for me too.”
Sentile has received a sports bursary to fund his studies and says he has learnt a lot of professional and personal lessons on campus.
He says, “I’m doing a BA majoring in Psychology and it is all about the mind. Boxing is a chess game, it’s a mind game. Boxing taught me how to resolve confl icts, how to pace myself and how to be a better human being.”
