Ayanda Radebe, a female referee who hails from Jozini in Umkhanyakude Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, shares her story of how she developed an interest in the quest of becoming an accredited and certified FIVB referee.
Ayanda Radebe, 35 years old, started being involved in volleyball at the age of 13 in 2002 at a school called Sinethezekile Combined School (Umkhanyakude). She was further introduced to Beach Volleyball in 2009 in Durban.
Ever since 2002, Ayanda has enjoyed playing volleyball, and along the way, she has gained some interest in officiating indoor and beach volleyball matches. She recently officiated at the All-Africa Games qualifiers held in Botswana, and some of her remarkable highlights in officiating volleyball games are as follows:
University Sports South Africa (USSA) Volleyball since 2015 to date (Beach & Indoor)
National Volleyball League (NVL),
SAMSRA Games
SAMVA Games
Ethekwini Games,
SALGA Games,
Zone 6 Beach Volleyball Tours
Ayanda, apart from refereeing volleyball matches, also contributes in terms of development programmes and coaches at the varsity and school level, such as Mangosuthu University Of Technology, Sunethezekile Combined School, Nanda Seminary, Orient Muslim School, SANDF(KZN). She was also a part of the coaching clinic with SANDF in Gugulethu (Cape Town).
She is now begging Volleyball South Africa to upskill her by taking her to FIVB courses so that she can start officiating at the international level. She wants to see herself featured in the CAVB competitions and eventually be called for the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, World Championships, and many other highly recognised international competitions. Radebe alluded that “upon qualifying, I will ensure that I
give back to the South African communities by means of organising some referees’ seminars and courses, especially to the women who are still behind in terms of refereeing in the country and the world at large”.
Article by
Jacob Thamaga
PR & Media Director
Volleyball South Africa
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