The Wheeler sisters, Kayla, Casey and Courtney have been helping young ladies in Langa and Capricorn get the best netball and hockey training on weekends.
Cape Town, South Africa (16 April 2023) – Kayla Wheeler has been a force in the upliftment of girls in the communities of Langa and Capricorn. With the help of her sisters Casey and Courtney, they have been giving coaching support to netball and girls’ hockey teams in these areas.
Kayla has a love for Netball and she focuses on this while her sisters help with the hockey side. Together, they run WISEUP (Women in Sport Education Upliftment Programme). The programme was founded in 2014 while the family were at a hockey tournament.
While the family watched a hockey game on the field between two other schools, they saw one of the smaller players become injured. The injury had happened because the team was still learning to build strength. Mom Lauren Wheeler rushed onto the field to offer help to the injured young lady. Once she was on the sideline, Kayla promised to visit the school and help train the team. The very next year, that is exactly what they did and WISEUP was started.
The sisters worked to get sponsors on board and created teams under the WISEUP umbrella. They work alongside the established coaching staff at each of the schools.
“Kayla has always helped on the netball side whilst her twin sister’s have coached the hockey side. All 3 girls willingly give their time to work with the coaches and girls over weekends.” – Lauren Wheeler, Mom
One of the highlights on the teams’ calendars is the annual tournament called the Champions Cup which is hosted by Rustenburg Girls High School. It sees U16 netball and hockey teams from WISEUP compete against the Western Cape’s most incredible teams. The tournament took place this weekend and fun was had by all the young ladies involved.
What makes this organisation so much more inspiring, is that Kayla suffers from Epilepsy and her seizures are increasing in frequency. Kayla works as a foundation phase teacher and she is committed to overcoming every seizure, so she can get to her class and to the WISEUP teams. It is commitment like that, that has become such an inspiration to the young ladies involved in the programme.
You can check out the Facebook page here for more information.