Two exciting young media practitioners, Sibonele Ngidi and Zolani Msobo, are enjoying living their childhood dream.

As the country celebrates Youth Month, the duo has fulfilled their dreams by working for prominent Premier Soccer League (PSL) clubs Maritzburg United and Highlands Park.   

It has always been a dream for the pair to venture into the media industry. Today, they are living that and the feeling is indescribable.

Ngidi is a media officer at Highlands, while Msobo occupies the same role at Maritzburg.

They both went through a similar journey to get to where they are today. Their careers started to take shape at community radio stations. 

“I used to listen to radio commentary as a child and never thought that one day I would form part and parcel of what happens at the stadium,” Ngidi said.

Ngidi, who joined Highlands in 2015, completed his media studies diploma at Boston College in 2011.

“It had always been a dream to be on the airwaves,” Ngidi said.

“I joined a local radio station Voice of Tembisa FM on May 9 2011 as news and sports reporter and in the evening, I would present sports shows between 6 and 7pm.”

The 30-year-old's job description is to take care of the club’s communication needs.

“When I wake up in the morning, I check what is trending online in terms of the stories that have to do with the club. I then go out to buy newspapers, to create content that media houses would like to pick up. I regularly monitor and update the Highlands website and social media pages. On match days, I get to the stadium early to prepare team sheets, and prepare what is needed before the team bus arrives.”

Msobo was a presenter at Inanda FM before joining the Maritzburg media department in September 2019. The 26-year-old workaholic studied a journalism diploma at ICESA College and says that the skills that were obtained assist him to execute his daily duties. 

“I didn’t think that things would turn out this way and my message to the fellow youth is that anything is possible. Where there is a will there's a way,” Msobo said.

With the country in lockdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak and players having been training individually, Msobo has been hard at work organising players' interviews through a Zoom conference with the media.

“My daily duties are also to update all social media platforms, take players' pictures and videos from training, and conduct interviews with footballers to write for our supporters," he said.

“Apart from work, I am a person who likes sports and that is what made me like this job.”