Nelson Mandela Bay municipality honours women in sport

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality celebrated women who are top achievers in various sporting codes at a special awards event at the weekend.

The Recognition of Women in Sport Awards, held at the Feather Market Centre, saw 42 women from across the city receive certificates and trophies of recognition from sport, recreation, arts and culture political head Helga van Staaden.

The awards aimed to celebrate female athletes, administrators and technical officials who have excelled at provincial, national and international level. 

“Today is a good day in our city. We are honouring top achieving women during the special month of Women’s Month,” Van Staaden said.

“It is the first time we are hosting such awards and we plan to make it an annual event.

“These are women in aquatics, boxing, cricket, darts and in disability sport among other codes, young and old.”

During the ceremony, the sports stars highlighted the challenges they had overcome in their various sporting codes that were either male-dominated or considered to be “elite”.

Boxing champion Nozipho Bell said it was an honour to be celebrated by her hometown.

“I feel very honoured to be here today, to be part of this event,” she said.

“It was very important for me to attend this event to share my story and motivate younger athletes to chase their dreams, to never stop dreaming and to dream big.”

SA Ladies Water Polo head coach Delaine Mentoor said the event provided a platform for women to be seen and heard.

“I think such an event is amazing and for any organisation to organise an event that highlights the sacrifices and achievements  is incredible,” she said.

“I think for women it is difficult to accept awards and recognition and it’s so nice that there is a platform which is allowing us to be seen and heard.

“I feel honoured and proud to be a part of this. I would like to see inclusiveness for women in sport. This should not be an isolated event.”

Van Staaden said the department aimed to make a habit of celebrating people while they were still alive. 

“As a society we tend to celebrate people when they have died and speak so well of them when they can’t even hear us.

“We certainly want to change that narrative and we commit that from now on we shall give people their flowers while they can still smell them.”

She said her directorate was committed to taking steps to promote women in sport, starting with hosting an all-female Mayor’s Cup as instructed by Bay mayor Nqaba Bhanga recently. 

HeraldLIVE