Swotting and sweating all in a day's work

Kwena Maphaka might be too busy bowling to get overly excited about his matric results tomorrow.

Maphaka will be in action for his SA20 franchise the Paarl Royals, against MI Cape Town at Newlands, the same day he’s expected to receive his matric results from St Stithians College in Johannesburg.

Much of his matric year was spent juggling international cricket and preparing for exams.

Government school results will be out on Tuesday but private schools such as St Stithians publish theirs tomorrow.

Last year, Independent Examination Board (IEB) schools achieved an overall national senior certificate pass rate of 98%, while the pass rate at government schools was a record high 82.9%. Several education experts have predicted that the pass rate this year will be even higher.

“I’m not sure what’s going to be happening. I’ll be focusing on the cricket and results will get to me afterwards,” said the 18-year-old fast-bowling sensation.

Maphaka has had to balance his studies with the demands of playing elite-level sport.

His rise has been supersonic. Last February he was playing in the under-19 World Cup, finishing as that tournament’s best player, then he switched to playing for his local union, the DP World Lions. Then, most unexpectedly, he was called up for the lucrative Indian Premier League in April. By the time he’d returned, he’d barely had time to breathe when he was called up by the Proteas for a short tour to the West Indies, where he made his T20 International debut.

His one-day international debut followed in November and he made his Test debut at Newlands last week. In between all that he studied and then wrote matric. “It’s been a really busy 12 to 14 months,” he said on Friday. “Every month I try to take a step back, to look at what I’ve done and what’s been happening.

“It gets difficult, because you’re on tour and you can’t take a step back ... then you’re on the next tour and then the next one. The only time I will really take a step back is at the end of my career.”

“There were a few crazy moments, in terms of packing my school books with me on tour and balancing my studies and playing cricket.

“On my debut tour in the West Indies, I had to be studying for prelims while I was there. I'm studying at night and it's 3am in SA at that point and I didn't understand one of the topics, so I sent my teacher a message, basically saying: 'I know you're not awake, I don't expect an answer now, but when you have the time, please can you answer me.' About 20 minutes later, I got a response and got all the help I needed. It was very confusing at the time, because I didn't understand why my teacher was up at 3 in morning, but bless her soul.”

I’m just going to focus on the cricket and get the results when I get the results

—  Kwena Maphaka, fast bowler 

“There were a few crazy moments, in terms of packing my school books with me on tour and balancing my studies and playing cricket.

“On my debut tour in the West Indies, I had to be studying for prelims while I was there. I'm studying at night and it's 3am in SA at that point and I didn't understand one of the topics, so I sent my teacher a message, basically saying: 'I know you're not awake, I don't expect an answer now, but when you have the time, please can you answer me.' About 20 minutes later, I got a response and got all the help I needed. It was very confusing at the time, because I didn't understand why my teacher was up at 3 in morning, but bless her soul.”

Maphaka previously explained that he and his parents had mapped out 2024, with the aim of finding the right balance between the demands on him as a schoolboy cricketer transitioning into the professional ranks, while ensuring he kept up to date academically. St Stithians helped with a programme for him while he was away but Maphaka and his parents’ plan also sought to be flexible, taking on board any surprises. The April call-up to the IPL was one of those.

Maphaka, who is represented by teammate and St Stithians alum Kagiso Rabada’s agency KGR Sport and Entertainment, jetted off to Mumbai for two months.

The Lions union and the school were able to source a tutor — Lara van der Dussen, wife of Proteas batter Rassie — to accompany him and help with the papers he needed to complete. In between practice sessions and matches, Maphaka’s head was in his school books.

“It’s crazy to see how quickly things have moved and how my life has changed. I’m trying to keep my feet on the ground, to keep learning and striving for success,” he said.

“I can’t really do anything about what’s happened [regarding the exams], so I’m just going to focus on the cricket and get the results when I get the results.

“Right now I’m trying to be fully focused on the cricket.”

Another young sporting sensation who is biting his nails ahead of the matric results is sprinter Bayanda Walaza.

A big part of his matric year was taken up by campaigning for Team South Africa’s 4x100m Olympic silver medal in Paris as well as his 100m and 200m double triumph at the world junior championships in Lima.

Plans were made for him to keep up with his schoolwork while he was in the training camp with the national team in Montpellier ahead of the Games. These included online lessons but Walaza admitted that while he was in France he wasn’t studying as hard as he’d intended.

Just after the relay team had completed their podium race, teammate Akani Simbine chuckled when Walaza was asked how his studies were going. But the 18-year-old said this week that the teachers at his school, Curro Hazeldean in Pretoria, had been a huge help.

“The school helped me so much with schoolwork. They make sure that I studied and that I got all the help I needed. So it was hard but my school tried to make it easier ...

“It was hard. I had to also show my dedication in school ... I had to be locked in so that I don’t lose also focus,” he said.

Walaza, who made his national team debut helping the South African 4x100m outfit to qualify for the Olympics at World Relays in Bahamas in May, admitted being nervous both on the track and in the exam hall.

“It’s a different ball game between school and athletics. With athletics, you become scared — but I was also scared when writing my finals,” he said.

Walaza’s favourite subjects were Zulu and CAT (computer applications technology) and his worst was geography. He is keen to study logistics, though he is still to decide on going to the University of Pretoria or Tshwane University of Technology as he weighs up bursary options.

Walaza turned down offers from US colleges to continue training under Thabo “Coach T” Matebedi. He’s looking forward to getting his results, but he’s not planning to celebrate.

“I’ll be excited if I pass matric, but I don’t think I need to do something to celebrate.”