Amanda Mkhize has been crushing it for Durban Ladies FC over the last couple of weeks as the KZN-based side have roared up the Hollywoodbets Super League standings.
As the action in the Hollywoodbets Super League has provided plenty of talking points, one of the top scorers in the league, Amanda Mkhize, has put her hand up for the golden boot. This comes after she scored four goals a couple of weeks ago against Ma-Indies at the Chatsworth Stadium.
The Pietermaritzburg-local, who plays for Durban Ladies FC, says she really enjoyed the game against Ma-Indies. “When I scored the first couple of goals, I was shocked and when I scored the third and fourth goal, I realised that I was in my element and could feel that I was in good form,” she said. Mkhize added to her tally this past weekend with a goal against Bloemfontein Celtic in her club’s 6-1 demolition of the Free State side.
The 18-year-old winger says what gave her the advantage over other players was her pace, which she has used to score eight goals in the competition so far.
Amanda explained that she first started playing soccer when she was 5 years old. “I used to play soccer with the boys in my neighbourhood and have always played with them. In 2016, my coach saw me playing in a match with guys and said that I should join and play for Durban Ladies,” she said.
Amanda said her role model is legendary Argentinian goal scorer and six-time Ballon d’Or winner, Lionel Messi. She said she loved how the Barcelona player often dribbled past opposition players and his goal-scoring prowess.
Throughout the years, her pillar of support has been her mother and friends who have supported her playing soccer. She wants to continue making them proud by one day playing for the national team, Banyana Banyana. To even have this dream in the first place, Amanda said the sponsorship of the league by Hollywoodbets has been a great help to her and her teammates. She believes that it has provided the hope that things will get better for them as the club struggled to make ends meet. “I want to thank Hollywoodbets for supporting us,” she said.
Although she is young, Amanda has already learned many lessons through playing soccer. One of these is that her success is dependent on her teammates and that whatever she achieves she could not do it without them.
The soft-spoken Grade 12 pupil said she is planning to study a degree in Sports Management as it is something she is passionate about. Although she might be on the up-and-up in her footballing career, Amanda still makes time to coach and give tips, on how to improve performance, to younger players.
