Dad’s rallying call spurs Nathi to greater heights

Viral video seen as inspiration to parents

“Go Nathi, go!” screamed the supportive dad as his confused 13-year-old son stood in the middle of the swimming pool while his opponents swam towards the finish line. 

Iminathi Mkubukeli’s father’s voice urges him to continue with the race and the boy quickly gets into a breaststroke and swims so fast that he starts to catch up on his two opponents while his father continues to shout and cheer him on. A few seconds later, Nathi swims past his opponents to reach the finish line first. 

This scene played itself out at the South African level 2 gala national swimming competition last year, however,  the video of Nathi’s feat surfaced last week after his father Zandisile Mkubukeli shared it on social media. It went viral as people admired Mkubukeli’s support for his son and Nathi’s courage in not giving up. 

Mkubukeli, from Cape Town, told SowetanLIVE that he had driven with Nathi from the Mother City to attend the event in the Eastern Cape. 

“It was a very important event for Iminathi because it helped him improve his time. He had swam in the prelims to qualify for the finals. It’s so unfortunate that he didn’t hear the sound of the gun when it went off.

“Iminathi is a great swimmer, especially in breaststroke and butterfly. I believe in him more than he believes in himself. I believe that if he tells himself that he is going to win, he will win,” said Mkubukeli.

Nathi has since participated in other swimming competitions where he enjoyed some success. 

Mkubukeli said the love they received on social media inspired Nathi.

Throwback

“Parents need to do what they can to support their kids’ dreams even if it means putting their [own] dreams behind them. I loved the support and the well wishes. It really inspired and motivated me and Nathi all over again.

"I would like to encourage people to continue showing us their support and love. Even the minister of sports, Gayton McKenzie, reacted to the video and promised to support and nurture him. We are still looking forward to meeting with the minister,” said Mkubukeli.

Mkubukeli said Nathi fell in love with swimming when he was two years old after seeing Chad le Clos winning in the Olympics. 

“He put on his swimming costume and filled the bathtub and started swimming. I tried taking him for his first lesson three years later when he was five years old, but that was a bad experience because the coach would throw him into the deeper end. So I let that go.

"Again, five years later when he was 10 years, I decided to get him a coach, and that’s what activated his interest in swimming. In summary, he has been swimming for four years now and we could use sponsors to get him to focus on swimming as a career,” said Mkubukeli.

They do not have a swimming pool in their house, however, his parents pay for Nathi's gym membership to access the pool. He practices from Monday to Friday for an hour. 

“Swimming is a very expensive sport not only financially but also time-wise. My biggest challenges are financial constraints because I always have to put money aside for his galas,  especially when he goes to national competitions.

"These galas are self-funded and a national gala can cost up to R20,000 including travelling costs, accommodation for the set days and catering and Iminathi’s essentials and diet.”

SowetanLIVE