KGOLAGANO RAKHUDU - 2020 MAIL & GUARDIAN 200 YOUNG SOUTH AFRICANS
Q & A WITH COACH KGOLAGANO RAKHUDU
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| Head of Basketball Operations Royal Bafokeng Sports |
Kgolagano Rakhudu (29) hails from the Royal Bafokeng Village. He is the epitome of excellence in its fullest nature. A dynamic young man who had a vision that was driven by passion and he chose to take a leap of faith and run with against all odds. Kgolagano is a Youth Development specialist, Social Entrepreneur and the 2020 Mail & Guardian 200 young South African. He is the Co-Founder of Ball in Motion a sports enterprise based in Rustenburg at the Royal Bafokeng village. He is the head of Basketball operations since the year 2017, a sport industry development program at the Royal Bafokeng Jnr. NBA program. He has over a decade of experience working in Youth Basketball in South Africa and Internationally.
Life is what you make it out to be, it’s like a crystal white canvas waiting for the artist to bring life into it. You are the author of your own story and everyday lived on this earth is another page added to your book of life.
Q & A
Q Who is Kgolagano Rakhudu ?
Kgolagano Rakhudu (29) is a young man from Phokeng. I was born and bread in Phokeng l proceeded my high school studies at HTS Rustenburg where I got most of my technical training in Mechanical Engineering.I have always been a very active child growing up. I did sports, I was part of the choir and participated in various arts and culture activities in my community. I believe that is where I developed my leadership skills and the love and passion of working with people specifically young people.
Q When did your love for Basketball start?
-When did you realise that this could actually be a solid career, especially when sport is deemed as a seasonal career.
I grew up being very active as child and playing sports was one of the activities amongst others that I participated in from an early age. So with Basketball in particular my cousin Kopano Rakhudu introduced me to the sport and that is when I started playing community basketball. I grew to love the sport and intensified my training regularly. During this space of time I started working at the mine, given that I come from a mining community it’s more of a norm when one gets done with school, you go into mining. So I worked at Impala Platinum Mine for quite some time as a mechanical assistant. It was a good start for a young man like myself at that time to get a well secured employment especially in the mining industry.
Q Tell us more about your company Ball in Motion and what services you offer and how the community at large can benefit from your services.
Ball In Motion is a sport education program which I Co-Founded with my Business partners Tshepo Tau and Cornelius Ramosotho. We later recruited Omphile Molokwane to join us as Operations Lead for the organization. The Organization was launched in September 2016 and in December we did our first two programs; Basketball Clinic in Limpopo funded by EXXARO Mine and a Girls Camp hosted at Lebone II College of the Royal Bafokeng.
Since 2016 Ball In Motion has grown country wide and in various countries around the continent. The economic impact of Ball In Motion in the past four years has benefited various entrepreneurs and businesses. This is why it is important to build a sustainable business model and financial model for the organization. The value chain of our programs which indicates the potential of Sports Business in South Africa and Africa at large is as follows; Accommodation & Meals, Transportation, Camp Apparel/Uniform, Medical & Safety Services, Marketing & Digital Media and Events Management. BIM’s long term Vision is to be the leading Basketball Education Company in Africa and impacting the African Sports Business Industry at large.
Q You are a young person doing extra ordinary moves in your respective field which is sport, now giving the fact that you work with young people in mentoring and coaching. How has the experience been for you throughout the years working with Youth Basketball?
Working with Youth Basketball has been the greatest part of my life because coaching these talented young ones has taught me alot about life and it’s struggles and how I can positively impact my community through what I love and what I’m most passionate about. In 2011 when I joined the NBA program I took some time out, to self introspect my life and do a thought out analysis as to what steps I needed to take with regards to my passion and subsequently for my career as well. At a later stage I then decided to leave the mining industry, as hard as it was I chose to follow my passion which was not only playing Basketball but most importantly working with people. I then resigned and joined the program on a full time basis and since then I have never looked back. In the beginning I was not paid as much as I was earning at the mine but nonetheless I believed that I made the right decision. This new journey in my life meant alot to me and though it might not have been visible at that given time it was surely worth it looking at the progress I have made to this point.
Q Take us a bit through your journey of growth and self discovery. Growing up in Phokeng and now being internationally recognised how has your journey to growth been?
In my ten years journey has been quite challenging and fulfilling at the same time. In my teen years I established strong leadership skills through my sports and other arts activities that I was part of. I was able to acquire strong interpersonal skills, life skills and entrepreneurial skills which helped me navigate through life in a more informed and developed mindset. I managed to find employment in my early twenties and realised that my purpose was bigger than just having a day job, I needed to do something about this fire that was burning inside of me. So I would say till this point I have grown immensely in my life holistically and the growth still continues as I journey on for greater avenues ahead of me.
Q In 2016 you went to Las Vegas, Nevada for an internship for the 2016 NBA Summer League, how was the experience and what skills did you acquire and how did you use those skills when you returned back home?
The experience was amazing it was mind blowing to see the world with a different eye, my perspective on life grew more deeper as I experienced the amount of hard work that other countries put in the game. How they utilise their resources to be the greatest and how basketball continues to open so many doors for so many players, one just needs to focus and work hard to achieve it. I came back home with more zeal to work harder and to improve our level of playing. To develop more young people and be their guidance in realising their own greatness in life even beyond playing basketball.
Q How has the partnership between Royal Bafokeng and the NBA helped in transforming young people in relation to sport?
First and Foremost I would really like to send my gratitude to the Majesty Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi for having a vision of bringing the National Basketball Association to develop young people through Basketball. It has been by far the greatest experience that we as the community of the Royal Bafokeng nation has come to witness. It has changed the lives of many young people, myself included. The impact has been quite exciting for us and has opened many doors that we didn’t even know existed. As the Head of the Basketball Program I can boldly say that we are definitely on the right track. We have implemented youth development programs, tournaments and leadership camps that have and still continue to instill life skills in our players. In 2018 we experienced playing with the greatest when I led the Team Africa & Middle East to winning the 2018 Jnr. International Boys Championship. We played so well with so much tenacity & enthusiasm that resulted in us being victorious.
Q Basketball has been predominantly a male sport for the longest time. Is there any way in which your company and organisation is trying to bridge that gap and expose more young girls into the sport?
As I mentioned earlier when we started the BIM camps we started off with a girls camp and yes we are definitely including girls in our organisation. We believe in diversity because different people unite. I believe that in building an inclusive and successful program you should & must have both boys & girls participating.
Q You were selected as one of the 2020 Mail & Guardian 200 young South Africans, did that come as surprise and how has the experience been so far?
It didn’t really come as a surprise because I worked extremely hard to build an outstanding profile. This was not my first time applying and so I realised that I did not gather enough information and didn’t do enough research to assist me in the first application, I assumed that is why I didn’t get selected last year. But this time around I went back to the drawing board having made enough research that assisted me to gather enough information in order to make my application valid for selection. The 2020 selection has been a wonderful addition to my many accolades that I have accomplished and achieved throughout the years. Being selected was a true validation of my wealth of experience throughout the years and it has certainly opened many doors and given me the accreditation that befits my work.
Q Given your experience in the basketball field do you think that Rustenburg has enough resources to produce great players in the game?
Definitely without any doubt I know that we have great talented players in Rustenburg, in fact we have had a couple of young players who have received scholarships overseas and played outside of the country. We just need to put in some effort and work hard at it and everything will fall into place. There is alot of talent in Rustenburg and we are doing everything in our power to find this talent, groom these young people and guide them into reaching their goals through basketball. Education plays a very important role so we always encourage our young players to take in the skills they acquire from playing basketball and translate them or rather transfer them into their studies in this way we create a balance and we’re able to achieve more.
Q Now during your journey of being part of the Mail & Guardian 200 young South Africans, what can people look out for, from Kgolagano and BIM? Your plans for the year going on forward..
As the country moves to level 1 easing down of the lockdown restrictions, we are looking forward to resuming our camps and resuming the tournaments we had lined up and furthermore to continue creating awareness about BIM and all its projects and activities.
Q Can a person make a living through basketball as a career and how far can one grow in this sport?
Yes one can make a living through Basketball, we have so many avenues to look at when we speak of sports as a whole. There is so much that goes into this sport apart from just playing the game, hence we provide mentorship programmes and entrepreneurial skills programs to our players. This is exactly what BIM is working on achieving. We need to look outside the box and beyond our borders. We are currently at a stage where we’re living in a skills based economy, therefore we need to have skills that will assist us to build a sustainable economy even for generations to come. There is so much economic growth within Basketball we just need to find that niche in the market and run with it.
Q In conclusion what can you say to young people who aspire to become players but don’t know where to start and how to go about it?
I would say possibilities are endless and as a young person you need to strive to do your utmost best to being the best that you can be for yourself. You need to outsource information do your research and develop yourself as a young person. Look for training centres where you can be equipped with the necessary skills to play keep training be disciplined at all times.
Kgolagano Rakhudu is not only a Senior Coach but he is a humanitarian of note, his course to take young people in and give their lives meaning, showing them love and care is the greatest act of humanity. He saw the need in his community and took the initiative to fulfil that need through Basketball.
“Basketball can take you places you have never imagined you’ll be, there is so much you can do with the amount of excellence been taught in the field of Ball”
“Every career that you want to do is there in sports you just have to find your way around it and occupy that space”
You can follow Kgolagano Rakhudu on his social media platforms to know more about his future plans and what he has in store for us through his organisation.
Thank you for allowing me to tap in your space Coach, it was indeed a refreshing interview, I wish you all the best in your journey ahead.
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