Sphelele Dlamini, 29, from KwaMashu, is determined to make a career as a wheelchair basketball player in France, and is raising money for a new wheelchair after earning a new contract.
Sphelele Dlamini/Supplied
Sphelele Dlamini’s legs were amputated below the knee when he was an infant.Learning to play sport made him believe that he could have a full and productive life, and has earned him a new contract in France.Now the 29-year-old, who hails from KwaMashu, is determined to make a career as a wheelchair basketball player in that country and raise money for a new wheelchair.
Double leg amputee Sphelele Dlamini plays wheelchair basketball games in France like he approaches life: with an intense determination to make the most of every single chance he gets.
The 29-year-old, who was born in KwaMashu, KwaZulu-Natal, has now spent the last three years playing wheelchair basketball with French teams.
He tells me he likes to play on the offensive “because I’m able to create more opportunities for my teammates to score”.
“I’m good at that,” he says, adding: “There is a feeling I get when I am playing wheelchair basketball that is hard to explain. I get to forget about the challenges that I may be facing. It gives me freedom in life because when you are playing with people that also have disabilities, it motivates you to see that there are always opportunities to overcome the obstacles you face on the court.”
He pauses.
“It also gives us hope, to say we can overcome the obstacles we face in our lives. We can do something bigger too”.
Before Dlamini started playing wheelchair basketball, he tells me: “I never thought that I could have been something or being somebody in this world, that I would have a family of my own”.
“The message in the environment that I come from is not always positive about being a disabled person. You don’t really see many examples of disabled people in my community who have been successful. But when I started playing sport, and connecting with other sports people with disabilities, it pushed me to try for a better life”, he says.
Sphelele Dlamini, 29, from KwaMashu, is determined to make a career as a wheelchair basketball player in France – and is using social media to raise funds for the wheelchair that will help him do that.
Sphelele Dlamini/Supplied
Dlamini’s legs were amputated when he was a baby after doctors noticed that they were not growing in the correct position.
“From the beginning, I was never seen as a kid that has a disability and I was always treated like I was a kid who could do anything,” he says, adding that Jumping Kids – an organisation that assists children with amputations – also made a huge difference in changing his mindset about living with a disability.
“Jumping Kids really helped me not to feel sorry for myself or cry for myself, but to focus on everything that I can do. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I would have the possibilities that I have right now,” he says.
Those possibilities include Dlamini’s hope of becoming a professional wheelchair basketball player, after spending three years playing his heart out in France’s lower division clubs and then getting a chance to play at CTH Lannion, a top-tier club that paid for his accommodation, some of his meals, team travel and medical insurance.
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Dlamini also saved his R2 180 monthly disability grant for years, and used that money to survive financially, while he borrowed another player’s competition wheelchair to compete in games. He did all of that, he tells me, in the firm belief that he would prove what he was capable of – and then make a sustainable career out of wheelchair basketball.
And his effort paid off. Dlamini was offered a professional wheelchair basketball contract for next season.
But, as he states in a video on his Instagram profile, he can’t take that contract right now “because I don’t have a competition wheelchair to compete at this level, so I’m stuck at the exact moment I should be moving forward”.
Dlamini is refusing to give up.
He is telling his story on social media – and using a GoFundMe campaign to raise the 8 000 Euros (about R150 000) he needs to buy a competitive wheelchair.
“I want a big life,” he says.
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“As much as I can play now, I can deliver at any time, I’m always at a disadvantage because I’m borrowing a competitive wheelchair that isn’t mine. I know that being able to have my own wheelchair is the next step in my path to my purpose.”
His dream?
Without hesitating, he says: “I obviously want to get to a space where I can live comfortably without always having to worry about just surviving. But more than that, I want to be able to share my experience and help other people living with disabilities to lead big lives too. I just want to share what I’ve learnt during my journey with the next generation, so they don’t have to go through the same challenges I have.”
Later, via WhatsApp, he tells News24 that he took a huge risk by leaving the safety of his home in South Africa to play wheelchair basketball in France. Now he is doing everything he can to prove that the risk was worth it.
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“I took some of the biggest risks of my life to finally see things change. It [this new contract] is an opportunity to build a better life and, above all, to open doors for our brothers and sisters back home within the sport,” he says.
“That was one of the main reasons why I went my own way out and took a risk. This is not just about me. It is about all of us.”
If you would like to get in touch, email feelgood@news24.com. If you’d like to contribute, you can find visit his GoFundMe page.