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Lephole scaling netball heights

 

Chakatsa Lephole
Chakatsa Lephole

Moorosi Tsiane

From volleyball, basketball and netball player to one of the best netball umpires on the continent. That sums up the sporting life of Chakatsa Lephole—the 33-year-old all-rounder who was born in Matelile Ha Seeiso on the outskirts of Mafeteng.

Lephola grew up like any Mosotho boy, taking part in sport with his friends at home and later at Matelile Primary School, and Mafeteng High School.

“Growing up in Ha Seeiso Mafeteng, I was a very active child, and when I went to Mafeteng High, I simply fell more in love with volleyball and basketball.

“At the same time, I became interested in netball and used to watch it a lot as my schoolmates played the game,” Lephole said.

Things took a new turn for Lephole when he moved from Mafeteng to Maseru, where he was now doing business management at the Institute of Extra Mural Studies (IEMS).

“When I arrived in Maseru, the sport was now more popular and I started playing it in 2003. In 2004, male netball teams were included in the Confederation of Southern African Netball Associations (COSANA) Games which Lesotho hosted the same year.

“We came last behind winners South Africa and second-placed Namibia. It wasn’t a bad performance for us because this was our first time going international.

“But very unfortunately, it just ended there because the male team was never granted the opportunity to take part in succeeding Games as we were not recognised by the International Netball Federation (INF).”

Lephole, the only boy in a family of three, however, said he continued playing netball for Raiders until he left for LCS Netball Club in 2008.

“I had to leave Raiders when the team folded so apart from being an umpire, I also play for LCS,” he said.

Lephole, who is also the Lesotho Netball Association (LNA) Director for Development, believes interest in netball, which is widely viewed as a female sport, is steadily improving among the male population.

“I must say netball has been showing positive signs of acceptance among our male population over the past 10 years. I mean, we now have many male teams in our league—a total of 11 to be exact. Again, in almost every school, there is a boys’ team, which shows we are slowly getting there.

“However, when it comes to technical staff, we are not that behind in standards. Our main challenge is mainly lack of infrastructure and resources because we fail to reach all parts of the country to groom players from a young age. Again, sometimes, you will find there are no balls, goalposts or the courts are in a terrible state,” said Lephole.

“But as Director for Development, I have been going all-out looking for sponsorship to ensure we implement our projects across the country.

“We have also been conducting coaching and umpiring workshops because we want to ensure we have the necessary skills to impart to the kids. We are looking at having a good pool of players in future.”

Lephole said like any child, he had dreams of what he wanted to be in his adult life.

“I always dreamt of being the best netball player in the country, but when I realised that male netball was not recognised by the INF, I decided to take the umpire-route and the dream is still to be the best globally.

“I am now the best in Africa and it is only me and Abednico Chetelo from Botswana who hold International Talent Identification badges. I am working on getting the highest badge, the International Umpires Award.

“But as much as I want to achieve great things, I try to avoid putting myself under unnecessary pressure because I know there is still a long way to go for me.”

According to Lephole, he is open to criticism, which he says is what has helped him to be where he is today.

“I am a very determined and hardworking person who is also open for criticism. Actually, I use that as my stepping stone to achieving my goals. I am also learning so I try to listen to my mentors who have been very helpful, hence my progress,” Lephole added.

On netball being viewed as a female sport, Lephole said this did not bother him at all.

“There is no truth at all in the belief that guys who play netball are gay. But again, those who are gay are welcome to play the sport because they are human-beings like everyone else and deserve to be given a chance.  Our code of conduct is clear that everyone should be treated fairly regardless of gender, race, place-of-birth, sexual-orientation, religion, politics and socioeconomic status. I have never had a problem with my family; my  mother and sisters have always been there for me. And that pushes me to do even better as they always encourage me to give it my best.”

Lephole, who is currently awaiting his results from Amity University where he was studying  Finance and Investment Analysis, further said it was important for athletes to be educated as sport is still amateur in Lesotho.

“It is important to go to school because we are not professionals and can’t depend on our sporting talent only. Education is the key and also helps us interact with other nationals. Education also makes it easy for players to understand the skills they are taught.”

Fact-File

Name: Chakatsa Lephole.

Nickname: Chaggy.

Date of Birth:  15 September 1982

Place of birth: Ha Seeiso Matelile, Mafeteng.

Position: Goal-attacker, Goal-shooter.

Previous teams: Raiders

Current team: LCS

Notable accomplishments: Umpired at the 2007 Confederation of Southern African Netball Associations (COSANA) under-21 Netball Challenge (Lesotho), COSANA Senior Challenge (South Africa), African Nations Cup (Tanzania) both in 2009, World African Cup qualifiers (SA), 2010 Supreme Council of Sport in Africa (SCAZA) Zone VI Youth Games (Swaziland), Africa Championship (Tanzania), World University Netball Championship (SA) and SCAZA Zone VI Games (Zambia) all in 2012, African Netball Championship (Malawi) and World Youth Netball Championship (UK) in 2013, World Africa Netball qualifiers (Botswana) and Region Africa Games (Zimbabwe) in 2014, Netball Safari (Ethiopia) in 2015.

Favorite meal:  Spaghetti Bolognese and vegetables.

Dream car: Volvo XC 90

Role model: Mother (Machakatsa Lephole)

Marital status: In a relationship.

 

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