Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 131, June 2020 June 2020 | Page 37

RACE WALKING
Training at UJ
in my Grandmother’s yard, watching both my parents
succumbing to a lifestyle of unemployment, which
leads to depression, drug abuse and sickness. As
kids, we had to witness all of this, experience it, but
I salute my older brother, Joswin, for looking after us
younger brothers,” he says.
Things began to change in 2005, when Reggie became
friends with another young boy living in a children’s
home. “I visited him and liked it there, so I asked if
I could stay there, too. I was only 13, but I knew I
wanted change, and somehow felt that there had to
be more to life. The children’s home referred my case
to the social welfare department, and not long after
that, somebody came to look at our home situation.
They said kids couldn’t live in such circumstances, and
I told him about the children’s home nearby, so that’s
how my younger brother, Roman, and I ended up in the
home. We had only been there for a week or two when
my dad passed away. Joswin had already moved out
due to the verbally abusive conditions, so sadly, my
dad died alone.”
Reggie stayed in the children’s home till 2012,
then moved to Johannesburg to begin his studies
at the University of Johannesburg, after earning a
scholarship thanks to his race walking achievements.
He had actually begun participating in athletics when
he was only about seven or eight years old, thanks to
members of the Schauderville community. “We had
guys in the community who were runners or involved
in athletics, like Uncle Godfrey and Mr Leo, some of
whom even served on the Board of Eastern Province
Athletics (EPA), so we kids often went to races with
them. We also used to run barefoot around the streets
of PE, and in primary school I ran the 1500m, but I
was only average middle-distance running,” he says.
Walking Talent
It was when he began attending DF Malherbe High
School that Reggie discovered he had a talent for race
walking. “One day I was teasing the walkers, when
Aunty Doreen and the school athletics coach, Mr
Martin Smith, challenged me to try it. I actually liked
it, but it was only when I became provincial under-15
champion in grade nine that I started taking it
seriously. I went to the National Schools Champs that
year and finished 10th, then in 2008 won the bronze
medal in the under-18 10,000m at SA Youth Camps. I
was captain of the EP under-18 and under-20 teams,
but I always seemed to finish fourth in most champs
races. Living in a children’s home was not easy, and
I went through a lot of emotional stuff, including an
identity crisis, which all affected my performance.”
After matriculating in 2009, Reggie took a gap year
in 2010, then began studying sport management at
Varity College in PE in 2011. Later that year, at the SA
Race Walking Champs in Cape Town, he met top SA
walker Michelle Hopkins and asked her for training
advice. She worked at the University of Johannesburg
(UJ) at the time, and along with coach Carl Meyer,
helped Reggie get a sport bursary to go study at
UJ. Signed up for a diploma course in transportation
management, Reggie says he struggled to adapt to
the new sporting environment.
“At UJ, I was now a small fish in a very big pond.
The standard of competition was so high, on another
level, and my athletics career just went backwards…
There was still some success, though. In my first year,
in 2012, I was fourth at the USSA Champs, and also
got my Central Gauteng colours, which was a dream
come true. By 2013 I was still competing, but that is
Competing for Central
Gauteng at the SA Champs
Reggie with UJ
team mates,
including
Michelle Hopkins
when I started focusing more on my creative side,
through acting and music, and even though I let my
walking slide, I am still so thankful to UJ for giving me
the opportunity in the first place,” says Reggie.
The transition from sport to the arts had actually
begun as soon as Reggie arrived in Johannesburg.
“In 2012 I immediately got involved in acting,
singing, writing and scriptwriting, and I tried to push
all my energy into creating. It started with my first
year residence play, then I auditioned at the UJ
Arts Centre. UJ does not have an academic drama
department, but students can still learn from some of
the best in the industry through campus productions
and activities. For that reason, I actually think I learnt
more outside the classroom than inside while at UJ,
and through adapting to the lifestyle of Joburg, so
while my walking fell by the wayside, I feel like the
university helped me a lot in finding myself.”
Finding the Right Stage
So, while Reggie completed his diploma course from
2012 to 2014 and tried to keep going with the walking,
he was putting more and more focus on various other
activities. “I think I had always had a gift for creativity
and arts, starting in high school. Since I was 14, I had
also had an on-off relationship with writing, and that
really picked up at university when I started writing
for Varsity Sport and the UJ newspaper. I think I tried
to do too much at first, and didn’t focus on anything,
but eventually it was the arts – writing, acting, music,
producing – that won the day.”
In 2013 he auditioned for a choir called Gospel Goes
Beyond, which was signed to a record company, and
in 2014 they put out an EP containing five tracks.
Then in 2015, while doing a bridging year to qualify to
do a B.Tech degree, Reggie struck out on his own and
enjoyed immediate success. “That October, I won the
UJ Can You Sing, which was like a UJ version of Idols,
and that was a highlight for me in my university life. I
had never really believed in competitions before, but
I went out to win it.” In between the singing, he was
also part of several stage productions that went to the
National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
In 2016 Reggie started his B.Tech, but says he
simply didn’t enjoy it, and by July had decided to
drop out. “By then I had gotten more involved in
doing commentary for BackTrack Sports, writing and
creating, and decided to focus on that as a career.
Fortunately, I was then offered a short-term job
with Stillwater Sports & Entertainment, so I moved
to Stellenbosch in the Cape. I was hired to write
and research, do commentary at events, and help
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