The Phalula twins, Lebo and Lebogang, are giving back to their beloved community of Diepkloof in Soweto by establishing a development programme where they train young kids. 

Between them the twins have a wealth of experience, multiple marathons won and participation at international events. They are best fitted to guide the next generation of road runners

The programme accommodates girls and boys but it is centralised around attracting girls to athletics. The twins want to identify talent and groom it so it can reach its full potential. 

"We opened our development structure because we saw there's a lack of young girls representing SA, it could be three to five. We want to have a good development, not only for girls but for boys as well. 

"If we sideline the boys, they will fall into substance abuse because they would feel not taken care of," said Lebogang. 

Lebogang went on to explain how the development came about – it was established after parents pleaded with them to take their children under their wings.

One parent's story moved the twins emotionally when she revealed her child tried to take her (child) life after she stopped running. 

"The parents of the children approached us and asked us to train their children because they were pushed away at their development," she said. 

"One parent saw that her child was going through depression because she was no longer running, she was stressed. So the parent, not wanting to lose her child, came to us and explained the situation. 

"We knew it would take our time but we decided to give them our time, to train them so they can grow to be the athlete sthey want to be. When we were young our coach found time, sacrificing family time ... we will not be here if it was not for Sphiwe Ncube," she said. 

The former winner of the SPAR Women’s 10km Challenge shared the objectives of their development and some of the struggles. 

"At the moment we have started with seven [children], it's nice to start with a small group, when they see the performance of the seven, more will come. We don't want a group of 100 and in that 100 only one athlete performs. We want this seven to represent Central Gauteng Athletics this year, that's our aim. 

"We saw some parents are unemployed, so children will be short on money for events, some don't have shoes to train and others don't have food. Those are the difficulties we're faced with. We don't have money but we try to help. We hope sponsors will come and help in time," said Lebogang.