The 2024 edition of the Toyota SASAPD National Championships (21-25 March) in the Free State’s Bloemfontein saw athletes associated with the Jumping Kids Prosthetic Fund (Jumping Kids) producing some stand-out results.
Jumping Kids is a Non-Profit Company (NPC) which supplies and maintains prosthetic equipment for children living with lower limb amputation or limb related disability across South Africa and into the continent.
The charity’s mandate is to provide beneficiaries with the tools to become successful, contributing members of society by facilitating access to mobility equipment and holistic rehabilitation combined with access to quality education and sports participation.
Jumping Kids has a long history of involvement in Para sport. It has been linked to a roster of impressive names which include current Paralympic athletes; Mpumelelo Mhlongo, Tyrone Pillay, Ntando Mahlangu, Sheryl James and Puseletso Mabote – all of whom aim to represent South Africa at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Mabote, who competed at his first Paralympics at the 2011 Tokyo Games and recently ‘graduated’ from being a Jumping Kids beneficiary to becoming one of the charity’s emerging success stories, ran a 25.12 second race to reclaim his 200m T63* division world record*.
The matric learner at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg also held-on to his African records in the T63 100m and long jump men’s senior events. His selection to Global Team Toyota ahead of the Paris 2024 Games comes as no surprise.
Apart from superb performances by Jumping Kids’ senior charity role models, its beneficiaries; representative of three provinces and competing in the under-14, under-17, and under-20 age groups; did exceptionally well.
Muriel Brand School learner, Teagon Coimbra set an impressive mark in the Boys under-17 F63* discus throw event measuring 21.01 meters. He followed that by adding gold in the 100m, shot put and javelin throw items in Bloemfontein.
Another stand-out performance came from fifteen-year-old T64 sprinter, Jayden Van Heerden in the Boys under-17 track events.The grade nine learner, who attends Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool in Pretoria with an educational bursary facilitated by Jumping Kids, dashed to gold and bettered his own South African records in the T64 100m, 200m and 400m events.
Muriel Brand School’s Donique Van Den Berg set a new national record* in the Girls under-17 T64 100m dash and added long jump gold for Gauteng. The 2024 edition of the championships also marks the second year that Van Den Berg competed at national level and her newfound confidence is clear.
Back on the field, Bilateral above-knee (BAK) prosthetic user, Vhutuhawe Nemutandani from Limpopo Province’s Emmanuel Christian School in Makhado took care of another national record in the Boys under-17 F61* discus throw. He threw a 17.06m best for gold and the new South African record* in his division, adding silver in the 100m and another gold in the long jump.
In the seated division, Muriel Brand School’s Simphiwe Dlamini took care of three gold medals for Gauteng in the Boys under-17 F57 shot put, javelin and discus throw events.Fellow Muriel Brand School learner, Matume Malatsi followed suit by adding silver in both the Boys under-20 javelin and discus throw finals and bronze in the under-20 seated shot put throw.
Back on the track, Pretoria Boys High School learner, Kitso Mokolometsa added bronze for Gauteng in the Boys under-20 T61 long jump. He placed 4th in the 200m and 5th in the 100m combined class sprint events. Girls High School’s Mukundi Mashamba placed 6th in the Girls under-17 200m T61 race.
To conclude a successful Nationals campaign the under-14 boys, who are Jumping Kids beneficiaries competing with customised lower limb prosthetic equipment, stole the show.
Limpopo Province’s Miracle Malatsi (T61) and Junior Mukansi (T63), both from Hoedspruit Christian School, were joined by Tlompo Ntsako Twala (T61) from North West’s Meerhof School for the Boys under-14 100m races.
Here the focus is less on the medals and more on the opportunity to experience sport at a high level in a safe, inclusive space. They get to see their role models, the country’s elite athletes facing similar mobility challenges as their own and get inspired to endeavour to push their own physical boundaries on the track and field.
On the second day of athletics the three under-14 boys were joined by their fellow Jumping Kids beneficiaries participating at the championships for a 200m exhibition race that saw the youngsters tearing up the track and had the spectators cheering!
“Our commitment to the development of inclusive sports participation opportunities is simple. The kids get to see and do what is possible. For a young boy like Miracle Malatji, who is a bilateral-above-knee prosthetic device user competing in the same T61 division as his hero, Ntando Mahlangu, being at the same event is priceless,” says Michael Stevens, Director of the Jumping Kids Prosthetic Fund.
In a year that bids farewell to two Jumping Kids charity ambassadors, elite athletes Mpumelelo Mhlongo and Tyrone Pillay – who both announced their retirement from competitive athletics after the Paris 2024 Paralympics, it was a highlight to bear witness to both the legacy and the future of Paralympic sport.
- *Record – World, African and South African records are in the process of being verified.
- *T61 – track athlete, competing with bilateral above-knee prosthetic equipment.
- *T62 – track athlete, competing with bilateral below-knee prosthetic equipment.
- *T63 – track athlete, competing with single above-knee prosthetic equipment.
- *T64 – track athlete, competing with single below-knee prosthetic equipment.
- *F61 – field athlete, competing with bilateral above-knee prosthetic equipment.
- *F63 – field athlete, competing with single above-knee prosthetic equipment.
- *F57 – field athlete, competing from a seated position.
