At a recent netball event, a shot showcasing sportswomanship at its finest was taken. One player was snapped tying the shoelaces of a girl on the opposing team, sparking an important conversation about kindness in the face of competition.
South Africa (25 March 2025) — At a recent netball event, a quiet moment of kindness and sportswomanship at its purest captured the attention of many.
One player got down to the ground to fix the shoelaces of another girl. She was on an opposing team, but she decided to help her out anyway.
The act was not difficult. It did not take hours, much skill or immense effort. And yet, it made for a rare sight.
The beauty of Huibrie Deon Viljoen’s photograph is that it captures the simplicity of kindness in just one frame.
Because most acts of kindness need not be complicated. It is not always the long-winded, layered and lengthy acts that pierce through the heart and inspire tears in our eyes, but the simple ones. The ones we know we could do ourselves if the moment arose.
There’s another conversation here, though. One Huibre touched on gorgeously when she said:
“Real Queens fix each other’s crowns”, adding, “This moment is why I love sports. It unites us in a way that only a captured moment like this can explain. Getting down on your knees to help your opponent fix her shoe lace…what a beautiful thing to witness and be a part of.”
The part that really stands out is the idea of queens fixing each other’s crowns.
For far too long, women have been taught to see each other as competition. From the deepest days of the patriarchy in which debutant culture quite literally pinned women against one another based on everything from skills and composure, to a world riddled with media outlets that relished in tearing one woman down to boost another (it was never necessary)—the history of toxic female competitiveness is long and expansive.
But the sportswomanship shot laughs in the face of what society has taught women for ages. And, if this brand of kindness in the face of competition could replace outdated lessons of besting one another for the sake of pseudo-validation, then perhaps the future generation has something to teach us all.
“The calibre of young women that South Africa needs!” wrote Zintle Lushaba. We couldn’t agree more.
by 