A few years back, Wendy Shongwe promised her dad she would take up football again after she finished matric at TuksSport High School.
She kept her word. In 2021 she was back on the field. It did not take long for her natural talent to come to the fore. The same year she received the Varsity Tournament Player of the Year award. This year she got a call-up to the Banyana Banyana team, which toured Serbia.
Those following the Hollywood Bets Women’s Super League are not surprised. Shongwe is one of the League’s top goal-scorers. The past weekend against Ma-Indies Ladies, she scored a hat trick for Tuks. In the 14 games played, Shongwe scored a total of 7 goals. Her tally is nearly a third of Tuks’s total goals so far. The team’s goal tally stands for now at 25.
The story of Shongwe’s return to playing football has a nice human touch. One of her earliest sporting memories was chasing after a football in the streets of Daveytown. She was holding more than her own playing against the boys. But her talents were not restricted to dribbling and scoring goals. She was also an avid middle-distance runner. She quit playing football in high school because challenging the stopwatch over 800 metres gave her a bigger thrill.
In 2017 she won bronze in the 800 metres during the South African School Championships in Durban. The whole time she was running, her dad “begged” her to start playing football again. That is when she made the promise. The Covid national lockdown turned out to be the clincher.
“I put on weight during the lockdown. It impacted my self-esteem. I knew I had to get active again. I did not want to start running again. Athletics is, at times, a very lonesome sport. Most times, you got to motivate yourself to push the limits.
“So I started playing football, as I promised my dad I would. It was the team aspect of football that did it for me. It is exciting to be part of a group of girls who got the same goal and are prepared to push each other to be the best. It is a case of one for all and all for one.”
With such an attitude, it is no surprise that the Tuks have been going from strength to strength over the last four weeks in the Hollywood Bets Super League. The team has won its last three games and played to a draw once. It has led to them being seventh on the log. There is a real chance they could win again over the weekend against First Touch. It is an away game.
Shongwe is, however, not taking anything for granted, saying that in the Super League, there is no such a thing as an easy game.
As to what her best attributes as a player are, Shongwe said it is her positive mindset.
“I don’t believe in ever giving up. To me, no game is ever won or lost until the referee blows the whistle for the final time. Although I am not the captain, I pride myself in my ability to motivate my teammates at crunch moments.”