This game provided Yaso everything’: South African sports star welcomes local children toward the sport

It’s around mid-afternoon on a end-of-week day and young adult Sinelethu Yaso enters her zone of joy. Her pristine cricket uniform pop against the artificial green field, while lively tunes of South African music float on the breeze as she moves in to bowl.

Outside the field, in the Makhaza area of this community, clothes flutters on a wire and the fall sun gleams off a metal lean-to.

The tall young woman has been told to be gentle on her rivals – an under-13 boys’ team – but Yaso’s impeccable line and length are sufficient to cause three straight failed attempts.

During her fourth delivery, the player at last hits it. The result is to loft it up to Yaso, who calmly takes the ball.

Viewing the game from his spot on the boundary is a retired test cricketer and coach. “There is some incredible skill in the local communities,” he comments. “The missing piece is opportunity.”

These youth on the ground are all part of a nonprofit initiative founded in 2014. Creating a nonprofit after stepping away from the professional cricket is not unusual – but the approach certainly is.

In place of trying to recruit skilled players in the townships and then provide them opportunities to wealthy schools or colleges in privileged areas, the program is all about introducing high-quality resources inside the communities.

Yaso was first introduced to cricket in 2015. “My dance teacher was also a cricket instructor,” she says. “At one point I walked past the training facility, and he invited me if I wanted to throw.”

Yaso – who has often been a noticeably taller than her teammates – turned out to be a talented. Through the coaching of a dedicated girls’ program mentor, Yaso has advanced quickly through the teams, competing for a number of youth teams before being chosen to represent the top-level team in 2021.

“Early on I felt expectations,” she shares. “But after time I got comfortable. I learned how the field behaves … it suits my approach really.”

Yaso comes to the facility often, whether or not she has a workout: “It’s hard to picture my life without cricket.”

“Initially it wasn’t a youthful goal,” she adds, “but now with the crew around me, it is beyond cricket – it feels like I’ve made family.”

I had good fortune in that the sport gave me everything. This is my opportunity to pay it forward

It began in 2014, when the former player partnered with a local principal to tour multiple schools in the township.

“After wrapping up a training role, so I had some opportunity,” explains the founder. “I thought there was an opportunity to understand how cricket was being received in the local areas near my home.”

The founder felt disheartened to discover that none of the schools he assessed played cricket – or any sport for that matter. After speaking to the schools’ governing bodies and leveraging his cricketing contacts to obtain support, he got cricket nets established at several schools in the area and a number of coaches employed.

Over the years, the venue have been improved – with an artificial pitch laid in 2020 and a multi-lane cricket facility a year later – and the outreach developed to include tutors who help the children with their schoolwork and frequent sessions on topics such as emotional support, awareness, and financial literacy. Today, 18 coaches and upwards of 400 players ranging from six to 19 access the centre multiple days a week during the year.

As the mentor: “The majority of those children aren’t going to make a career from cricket, but they are all profiting from cricket. This place is like a dream … it serves as a safe space for all of us.”

One of the benefits that cricket offered was the chance to visit abroad and encounter different countries. While affluent schools in South Africa regularly take cricket teams on tour overseas, local cricketers are fortunate if they ever leave their own neighbourhood.

Previously, during a men’s World Cup, the organizer took a youth squad to the UK. “It was one of the proudest moments of my sports career,” comments the mentor.

Soon, to align with the Women’s T20 World Cup, he will be bringing a women’s squad to the historic venue of cricket. “It’s been a dream to go to England, to the famous ground,” shares Yaso, who is aiming to be picked. “It’s a goal I have been hoping for … it means everything.”

The coach is equally excited. “It’s going to be a valuable cultural exchange,” she says. “We cannot wait – it is the best experience for the players.”

She is also moved. “As a coach, it’s a privilege to have a leader like him to look up to,” she says. “Understanding how the center were established in this community signifies the so much to us. It means that he values a black child and the environment they come from.”