SuperSport Schools Plus

Player profile: Kuhlesibonge Buthelezi (Roedean School)

By Vuyo Ndudane , in Water Sports | Featured Water Sports | News , at 2025-01-21 Tags: , ,

Kuhle Zulu stretches high to pull off a save for the Central Gauteng u16 team at the Schools Water Polo South Africa Inter-Provincial Tournament in East London in December 2024. Photo: Will Morrell.
Kuhle Buthelezi stretches high to pull off a save for the Central Gauteng u16 team at the Schools Water Polo South Africa Inter-Provincial Tournament in East London in December 2024. Photo: Will Morrell.

Fresh from winning the Schools Water Polo South Africa Inter-Provincial title with the Central Gauteng u16 team, meet the promising Pretoria-born goalkeeper and Roedean School grade 11 learner, Kuhlesibonge Buthelezi.

The talented goalie, who has captured attention with her super saves, is the second of four children in her family.

After her mother, Samukelisiwe, encouraged her to give the game a go, she played it for only three months in 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic led to a lockdown.

“When I moved to a new school in a new province, Gauteng, from Mpumalanga, I wanted to try some new sports and my mom was the one who suggested that I play water polo. If it wasn’t for my mom, I don’t think I would have tried it, but it was an interesting sport that l had never seen or heard of before,” Kuhle revealed.

It turned out that her mother’s guidance was the best as she took to the game with relish. “I honestly can’t remember how I fell in love with the sport, but it quickly just became such a huge part of my life,” she fondly told SuperSport Schools Plus.

While the lockdown stopped teams from playing matches, it didn’t stop them from putting in work that would benefit them later. There were online gym sessions and goalkeeper sessions with coaches where they spoke about things like positioning and techniques.

“It was quite interesting doing a sport online, but our coaches always found a way to make it fun,” she said. “After lockdown, we had training at the Nokuthula pool.

Talking about her experiences in the sport, she said: “I think the thing that I loved most about water polo was the community that we had. The long car rides with friends on the way to training, singing songs in the car, and the end-of-year braais and lunches.”

In her first water polo tournament, her team finished third. At her next tournament, the Durban Girls’ College u13 Tournament, Roedean finished second. At the end of the year, she attended her first Inter-Provincial Tournament. Central Gauteng made the final, and it was a nerve-wracking experience.

“It was my first time going to penalties in such an important game and, as a goalkeeper, there was a lot of pressure on me. But I am proud to say that I made the game-winning save, and my team came away with the gold.

“The years after that were filled with countless hours of training and dedication to the sport,” said added.

In East London, at last year’s IPT, Buthelezi shone, helping her side to move through the group phase unbeaten. Then, in the final, she pulled off some big saves to help Central Gauteng beat Western Province 8-6 in the gold medal game.

Again, it was the memories she made that she treasures, Kuhle said. “My fondest memories that I have with my Gauteng team are, without a doubt, the car rides to games, and especially the ride back from the final, blasting our victory song, celebrating our winning streak.”

Being the last line of defence for Roedean has brought Kuhle Zulu many treasured memories. Photo: Will Morrell.
Being the last line of defence for Roedean has brought Kuhle Buthelezi many treasured memories. Photo: Will Morrell.

Winning the title in East London wasn’t the first time that she had claimed Inter-Provincial gold with Central Gauteng. “A moment that I’ll never forget is our 2022 final when we were up by four goals, with only a few minutes of the game left. Our coach, Gareth Prout, called a timeout and said: “Congratulations, girls, you did it again!”

Playing goalkeeper is challenging, Kuhle admitted, but she has had excellent guidance from her school coach Anita Trininic.

“Well, my coach, Madam Trininic, was the reason I ended up being a goalkeeper. I had just started water polo and was at my first match after having had only a few training sessions. She said that we needed a goalkeeper for the game since our team goalkeeper was injured. The next thing I knew, Madam Trininic had put me in the goals.”

That suited her perfectly, Kuhle admitted: “As someone who wasn’t very fond of swimming, I was more than happy to be in the goals. I soon discovered, or rather Madam Trininic did, that I have a lot of potential as a goalkeeper, and I started training as a goalkeeper at school practices.”

Despite her many successes, Kuhle has, also, had to overcome some challenges, which she shared: “I’m not the tallest goalkeeper, and my height and the length of my arms is sometimes a disadvantage, but it makes me work harder to get to those top corners. So, I’ve spent a lot of training strengthening my legs and perfecting my technique to make sure that I’m on top of my game.”

Along the way, she has garnered individual awards, too. In 2023, she was named the Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the u15 Crawford tournament. That same year, she was named the top goalkeeper at the Reddam Inspired Cup. Then, in 2024, she received the Goalkeeper of the Tournament accolade at the Saints u19 Invitational Tournament, where she was included in the Team of the Tournament.

The 16-year-old, who is now coached by Siyabonga Guzana and Anita Trininic, said: “By far, my greatest achievement was being a part of the u16 South African team and representing South Africa in the 2024 World Aquatics Women’s u16 Water Polo Championships.

She added: “I just want to say thank you to all the coaches that have been a part of my water polo journey. Special thanks to my u13 coaches, Matthew and Andrew van Rooyen, who still send me pictures of them watching my games, and to Mr Gareth Prout, who was with me for two important years of my polo career.”

Being a goalkeeper is nerve-wracking but rewarding, says Kuhle Zulu. Photo: Will Morrell.
Being a goalkeeper is nerve-wracking but rewarding, says Kuhle Buthelezi. Photo: Will Morrell.

Reflecting on other highlights of her water polo journey thus far, Kuhle said: “My highlights have been seeing the work, time, and effort that I’ve put into water polo show in my playing, and being able to let the results speak for themselves.

“Another highlight has been the friendships that I’ve made through playing this sport. I’ve made some lifelong friendships with players from different schools, provinces, and even countries. I can honestly say that some of my closest friendships were formed through playing water polo.”

In 2025, she will be moving up to the senior ranks of schoolgirls’ water polo. Given her hard work and dedication to the game, and the superb coaches guiding her, it is no surprise that she cannot wait to take the step up and take on the challenges.

“I’m quite thrilled to be moving up to the u19 provincial squad. There is going to be a lot more competition, but I think that it’s going to be great for me to train with the u19 goalkeepers,” she enthused. “I’m excited to train with other SA [u19] players and even players that were in the [South African] Women’s water polo team. I think it’s 100 percent going to challenge me, but I’m ready, and I can’t wait.”

Now that the soon-to-be 17-year-old has reached the senior age group for schools, she has some words of advice for those who are yet to make that journey, and who have provincial aspirations.

“The advice that I would give them is never to give up and, if you truly want something, you should be willing to work hard for it. My mom always told me that I needed to put in 10 000 hours if I wanted to do well in something.

“You are always given the choice to put in the work, and when an opportunity is in front of you, you have to take it because if you don’t take that opportunity and do the best that you can, other people will.

You can follow Kuhle Buthelezi’s water polo exploits on Instagram@kuhle_waterpolo.

Vuyo Ndudane
error: Sorry ol' chap, those shenanigans are not permissible.