According to Jacobs, this is the first basketball club in the residential area since the sport faded away in the late 1990s. He said the goal is to have five established clubs in and around Knysna by the end of 2014.
Jacobs, who has for some years been involved with many social upliftment programmes among the youth in Hornlee, established the basketball club while working with boys in the neighbourhood who have lost their fathers, or were experiencing difficulties bonding with their stepfathers, and ultimately lack male role-models in their lives. When he discovered that many of the boys shared an interest in basketball, he and a friend, Deswin Talmaggies who happened to be a basketball coach, approached the municipality and the private hospital for possible funding for the club's players.
Knysna Life Private Hospital runs a community involvement project, the Sizanani Project and sponsored R13 500 towards the players' kits and balls and other needs, including financing the tournaments, says Carol-Anne Terblanche, chairperson of Sizanani.
"To be able to help youngsters to develop their potential and follow their passion is a great privilege for us at Sizanani. We (the hospital and Sizanani) enjoy investing into the community that we are part of and hold dear to our hearts," she said. The Knysna Municipality undertook to pay for the upgrade of the basketball courts.
The Sizanani Project and the Knysna Municipality are supporting Hornlee's new basketball club, which officially opened on Saturday, May 31. Showing off their new gear are (in front, from left) Kaylin Jaftha, Kyle Stevens, Hughlin Uys, Maverick Wynand and Carol-Anne Terblanche (chairperson of the Sizanani Project), behind them Christi Jacobs, Tyron Botha, Henly Hendricks, Brandon Johnson, Jenielen Arnolds, Cornel Lucas, Dylon Dixon and Deswin Talmaggies (coach).
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