BREAKING boundaries
LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD
TORN BETWEEN PURSUING MEDICINE OR SPORTS AS A TEENAGER, DR PHATHO ZONDI FINALLY FOUND THE PATH SHE’D BEEN LOOKING FOR AFTER HEARING A RADIO STATION INTERVIEW WITH PROF TIM NOAKES
‘I’ve always been fascinated by the human body, so I knew quite early on that I wanted to study medicine. On the other hand, I’ve also always loved all kinds of sport and I’ve participated in at least three of them since the age of six. I grew up in an active family where everyone – Baba, Mama, bhuti and sisi – was athletic in their own right, so sports medicine was a natural fit for me. But I only learnt about the actual discipline quite late in high school. As soon as I became aware that it was a career choice, I knew that was the path I wanted to follow,’ explains Phatho.
She went on to do her MB ChB at the University of Cape Town, after which she obtained a sports medicine degree at the University of Pretoria. ‘I started my career working as a team doctor in rugby at a time when there weren’t many women – and certainly no black ones – in the sports science and medical fields of rugby. So the challenges I experienced resulted from both gender and racial prejudice. There were times when I wasn’t “invited to the table” – or, if
