Dodgeball players from Ridgeworth, Brackenfell and Oakdale, are raising money so they can represent SA at the Dodgeball World Cup, in Cairo, Egypt, next month.
The event is set to take place from Wednesday December 14 to Saturday December 17.
Rhode Boverhoff, of Ridgeworth, captains the women’s team and has been raising funds since June.
Her career in dodgeball began in June 2019, the same year she played her first international match.
“The very first time I was introduced to dodgeball, I was so scared that for the whole night of our practice session I didn’t participate.
“It seemed intimidating and daunting to me. Today, however, I am quite possibly one of the two strongest throwers on the team. My biggest achievement would be to have been selected as the team captain, which is a massive honour.”
In 2019, the team lost to Egypt, at the Coetzenberg Indoor Sports Centre in Stellenbosch, during the Dodgeball African Cup of Nations (Afcon).
More recently, at this year’s Dodgeball Afcon, held at Somerset College in July, all the SA dodgeball teams lost except for the under-21 women who bested Egypt and scooped a gold medal and trophy for their division.
The SA Dodgeball team, also known as the Green Mambas, was established in 2017 and consists of seven teams, which include the men’s, women’s, mixed, under-21 men, under-21 women, under-15 boys and under-15 girls, according to SA Dodgeball founder Nicholas Oubell.
“The 2019 Dodgeball Afcon was the World Cup qualifiers. As we were the runners-up in the competition, we were automatically selected to compete at this year’s World Cup, which was meant to take place in 2020, but it was postponed due to the pandemic,“ said Mr Oubell.
“The teams that have been selected to play at this year’s World Cup consist of 40 players, split between Johannesburg and Cape Town. The teams are the: men’s, women’s, mixed, under-21 men and under-21 women,” said national mixed-team coach Julian Springer.
Ms Boverhoff is raising funds through a raffle with more than a hundred prizes up for grabs.
“Our raffle tickets are R25 each and some of the prizes include: weekends away at Africamps and Starry Starry night in Montagu. Each of our players has the capacity to host their own fund-raising events. So a lot of our teammates have BackaBuddy funds and are organising their own fund-raisers,” she said.
So far she’s raised, R17 000 but her fund-raising goal is R25 000.
Mr Oubell said a total of R55 000 had been raised so far. “We hope to get to at least R100 000 before the end of the month.”
Ms Boverhoff said taking part in the Dodgeball World Cup was a great opportunity for the team to grow while promoting the sport of dodgeball in South Africa.
For more information, contact Nicholas Oubell at nic@dodgeballsa.com or call 083 799 8410.