| The next month will be one of the most memorable in the life of a young David Basson. Apart from turning thirteen on day one of that month, this Vryheids Monument scholar jets-off for the boating-championships held in the almost land-locked Baltic sea region in July.
He will be in the former Soviet republic of Estonia for the world boating championships scheduled for July 10-12.
Sanctioned by the Estonian Powerboating Union as well as the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), the scene for the championship is set for Lake Harku, in the Estonian capital, Tallinn. He has just met the Executive Mayor of Sedibeng, Mahole Mofokeng, had a photo shoot with him and his boat spotting the municipality's logo at the Boipatong stadium.
The Executive Mayor is here on his annual state of the district address planned to coincide with the memorable seventeenth commemoration of the Boipatong massacre on June 17, just a day after South Africa's declared holiday, and equally memorable 1976 June 16 uprising.
The young David's presence today is more than just for a photo shoot with a man occupying the highest office in the region. He is here also to pay tribute to the Executive Mayor and the people of the region for the support and financing of his trip to the international competition.
Due thanks also goes to the department of home affairs, whose mobile offices showed a dominant presence at the stadium.
'They facilitated our travel documentation within a week,' solemnly says the champion's father.
The district municipality has helped finance the twelve-year-old's transport and accommodation in the historically significant Baltic region.
Like in most of his previous competitions, the young boating champion shall be accompanied by his father, David Basson senior.
The duo is just fresh from the young one's victory at the Formula 1 power-boat juniors race in Durban last month. He scooped positions one, two and one again at that race. Hardly a month after the Durban victories, he is readying himself for yet another challenge in the Baltics. The former boxer and rugby playing lad has made it four times in a row as a member of the Gauteng junior rugby team for his former school, Danie-Theron primary.
Asked why he had to quit the popular sport, he exclaims: 'Ag, I had to quit rugby in order to create space for another, probably more dedicated young-player,' he reasons. He admits that his father and not his mother is his biggest fan. 'She sometimes does not come to the race but just wishes me well,' concludes the young champion David Basson.
Footnote: Luathuania is a country located on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea with a population of 3,765,000. It was absorbed into the Russian empire in 1795, having been united with Poland from 1386. Together with Estonia and Latvia it made what was then called the Baltic states, which were declared independent republics a year after the Russian revolution in 1918, but in 1940 were annexed by the Soviet Union as constituent republics. In 1991, on the breakup of the Soviet Union, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia became independent republics once again. In 2004 they joined both NATO and the EU. |
