Temba Bavuma chipping away at his handicap while helping those in need

Temba Bavuma is keeping his home fitness routines 'interesting' during the nationwide lockdown. Picture: Reuters

Temba Bavuma is keeping his home fitness routines 'interesting' during the nationwide lockdown. Picture: Reuters

Published May 6, 2020

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JOHANNESBURG - Temba Bavuma has done serious damage to his backyard as a result of practising his chipping during the lockdown.

“I’ve been chipping the grass away,” he said Wednesday, admitting there was one sport he really missed playing while stationed indoors. “I actually miss (golf) more than cricket. I saw an article the other day saying they are considering opening golf courses, so I’m quite excited about that.”

Bavuma turns 30 next week, and admits the restrictions in place as a result of the lockdown have been difficult. “Being indoors hasn’t been easy to be honest. You wake up every day trying to find things to keep busy.”

As with all the nationally contracted players, Bavuma is on a strict training programme, although that too has its challenges. “I do stick to the training programme, but I also try to change things up a bit, to keep it interesting.”

The lockdown has created plenty of time for reflection for Bavuma, who’s 2019/20 season had more than its fair share of drama. “There was a lot of controversy,” he said in reference to his axing from the national squad for the New Year’s Test against England.

View this post on Instagram

Operation Handicap Must Fall 🙅🏽‍♂️ #stayathomechallenge #staysafe #covid_19

A post shared by Temba Bavuma(@tbavuma11) on Mar 19, 2020 at 10:46am PDT

It was around that time however that he also adopted a new mindset, one that he feels has been liberating for his game. “I’ve learned to let go. At the start of the season you draw up your goals and then when things don’t go according to plan you become despondent.

"Coming into the new year, for me, it was about letting go of the things I wanted to achieve but still strive towards them. I felt that by doing that I was able to enjoy and take ownership of the moment. I started enjoying my cricket a lot more. I’d like to keep going in that same vein.”

Quite when that will happen is anyone’s guess right now, with the Covid-19 lockdown, set to delay the return of professional sport for many months. 

In the meanwhile, through his foundation, Bavuma has been lending a helping hand to those less fortunate. “The foundation got involved with an initiative in Diepsloot (north of Johannesburg), distributing food parcels to 50 or so families in the area,” he said.

“The lockdown has been challenging for us as a country and the people hit hardest are those living in the township. As a foundation we can’t be ignorant to the reality of our country at the moment and it was our way of playing our part. We’ll be doing something similar in Cape Town in the coming week.”

@shockerhess

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