It was a Saturday afternoon when Kgaogelo was holding the biggest world cup for soccer. As happy as she was, she herself couldn’t believe that she has made it this far, based on where she came from.
It all started when this tall, beautiful girl with a unique birthmark on the side of her neck all the way to her face, called Kgaogelo, was in the 7th grade during school holidays. Kgaogelo had loved soccer ever since she was a little kid. She lived in a small village in Limpopo that had lot of children.
In the village, wealth was not based on material belongings but on the size of the family, hence a lot of parents aspired to have large families. In the village gender roles were clearly defined, and it was believed that women and young girls should clean, cook, and fetch water from the river while young men would go hunting for meat and young boys played soccer to compete in the local competitions.
“When it was our turn to host a neighbouring village (home game), the whole village would gather at the grounds and watch the football match. I remember the happy faces when we won, then the whole village would talk about the players and the ones who played well, and the scorers, during the game.” And Kgaogelo wanted to become one of them. There was an old man who was called Rakgolo Skara, that walked with a Lepara (walking stick). “I heard that he used to be a village star, and I heard stories about his exploits in the football field during his hey-days. I sometimes overheard him complaining about today’s generation no longer being a force to be reckoned with and how they have become too soft.
Kgaogelo was eleven years old when she touched a soccer ball for the first time, only to find out she was good at it. The soccer bug bit her from there. She took interest from her father who was short, caramel in complexion, had a beard that covered his face, and a big belly. These features belied the stories she had heard of his performance in the soccer field during his prime.
Ever since the day she touched the soccer ball, Kgaogelo could not stop thinking about soccer; during those days when her father watched soccer on TV, and she would sit down and leave her chores and watch it with him. This resulted in her getting chastised by her mother. Unlike her father, her mother was tall, slim, and used to be a beauty of the village. Kgaogelo’s mother enjoyed narrating stories of her days when she competed and won the beauty contests. Kgaogelo sensed a bit of regret in her voice that she did not take this talent forward, which only served to inspire Kgaogelo not to give up on her dream of playing soccer. As days passed, whenever she had free time or had finished her chores, she would take an empty bottle and start playing soccer with it; she would sometimes go with the bottle to the local spaza shop so that she played on her way. She would go to the shop with the bottle and say, “Hi my friend, can I have Mashomshom (puffs snacks)?” Everyone in the village called Muleh “my friend” because he was a Pakistani man who owned the shop, that called us his friends too because he didn’t know our names.
Until one day this tall, light-skinned, skinny boy made Kgaogelo’s day very special. “Hey, don’t you want to play with us? But make sure the elders of the village do not see you,” said the boy, feeling sorry for her. Kgaogelo couldn’t believe her eyes. “OMG, please pinch me, am I dreaming?” thought Kgaogelo excitedly.
Ever since that day Kgaogelo would sneak out when theelders were not around to practise with the boys.
Two years passed with the sneaking in and out to play soccer with the boys, until one day her mom noticed that Kgaogelo’s body was changing, she was leaner, had muscles and thought that she looked like a boy. But her mom didn’t really think too much of it. However, she made sure to remind her of her features whenever she missed a chore. “Kgaogelo, behave like a girl.” This would start a lecture about how a girl is expected to behave.
Days passed and Kgaogelo kept practicing with the boys. One day, an old woman with a round-figured body and a mouth that never closed, called Mrs Mojapelo, came past. There was talk in the village that every time you saw her, you must hide and start running because the moment she started talking, she won’t stop till she got hungry. She saw Kgaogelo practicing with the boys. Immediately Kgaogelo saw her while holding a ball, she knew that she was in trouble, because Mrs Mojapelo would tell her mom and the whole village about her playing soccer instead of her cleaning and fetching water from the river. Then it was time for school.
Palesa, Mrs Mojapelo’s daughter, was known in the village to be as talkative as her mom, except she wasn’t the radio of the village but was the radio of the school. As soon as her mom Mrs Mojapelo told her of Kgaogelo playing soccer with the boys, she immediately told the whole school about it. Now everyone in the school knew Kgaogelo’s little secret, and she was the talk of the village; some people even teased her, calling her a boy, some laughed every time she would pass by. One day, Rakgolo Skara heard the news and went to Kgaogelo’s house. “Knock, knock.” “Oh, Thobela Rakgolo Skara, I didn’t expect you here, what makes you come?” Said Kgaogelo’s mom. “I’ve heard the news about your daughter Kgaogelo. I wanted to make a deal: your daughter gets to join the soccer team. But!! If ever she wins, she can join it permanently but, if ever she loses, I don’t ever want to see her near the boys ever again and she should continue with woman’s things, deal?” “Deal,” said Kgaogelo’s mom, smiling. Of course her mom and Rakgolo Skara did not think that she would make it as a soccer player when they made this wager.
The whole week, Kgaogelo and soccer were the only things that people could talk about. There were people who believed in her and some who didn’t believe in her because of the village perceptions about gender roles. The day came where Kgaogelo had to prove them wrong. All the people in the village locked their houses and went to the grounds to watch Kgaogelo playing. Mrs Mojapelo was seen walking around, talking to the whole village and greeting everyone. Rakgolo Skara was also there pacing around the soccer field and blurting out instructions. Muleh closed his shop and went to watch Kgaogelo, even people from near by villages were there, and also the village Kgoshi (King) was there. Kgaogelo played wonderfully, and even played better than the boys, people were happy and inspired that girls can do anything that boys can do. Her mom was so proud of her, and people started calling her The Soccer Girl. There were scouts that introduced Kgaogelo to a woman’s soccer team in the city. And that was the beginning of Kgaogelo’s journey. She got bursaries and scholarships to study and play soccer locally and abroad.
She became the first in her family to board a plane and to travel outside South Africa. She was also selected to play in the national women’s soccer team, and played in the successful world cup where she helped the team to win the cup, she was also selected as the best player of that tournament.