Adli Yacubi

Tag: Golf

  • Take a deep breath. We’re going swimming

    Take a deep breath. We’re going swimming

    The author reflects on the process of writing the biography of SA golf champion, Sally Little… 

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    It’s finally here after a year’s hard work. The Sally Little book launched on 4 October 2016.

    David Bowie was interviewed and asked about his creative process.  He said that his best works came from those moments when his toes could not feel the bottom of the pool, when he was outside his comfort zone.

    When the opportunity of doing a biography of Sally Little, world champion golfer, came along, that was exactly what I felt: I was in deep waters and yet it was strangely appealing.

    Just from my initial research about this sportswoman, her meteoric rise, the many tournaments she had won and still going strong despite her age, I was already beginning to develop an analogy, an outline of what her story meant and what it could mean.

    Once that happened, I knew that this was a story that I wanted to capture. Here was a image that I wanted to paint. In that moment, I realised that this story would force me to draw on my all my resourcefulness in a profound way.

    One of those challenges for me as an anti-apartheid political activist from the 1980s, a product of the National Party forced removals from District Six to the Cape Flats, was whether I had the ability to have enough empathy, enough skill as a writer to capture the story of someone who broke the international sports boycott that helped bring down apartheid.

    But it was also about whether I would be able to see Sally as more than just a sports celebrity. Would I be able to get her to tell me about herself, the side that fans may never see, without holding back? Would I be able to get her to trust me enough to share her story with the world?

    I was embarking on a journey that had a clear destination; a published book of Sally Little’s biography. I was all packed and ready. What was not clear, however, was how this journey would unfold.

    But I am a huge David Bowie fan, an activist from the 80s and I love swimming in deep waters…

  • Sally Little on a beautiful Cape Town morning

    Sally Little on a beautiful Cape Town morning

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    View from Radisson Hotel breakfast area in Green Point

    I did not know what to expect when Sally Little agreed to meet me at nine for coffee at the Radisson Hotel, in Green Point, Cape Town. The idea was that it was time to put a face to the email discussions. I had arrived early to make a good impression and took a seat on the veranda overlooking a calm Atlantic basking in placid Mother City weather. To remind me what she looked like just in case I greeted the wrong person, I opened my laptop to take one last look at her profile on The Sally Little Foundation website.

    When I looked up from her picture, Sally had just entered the Radisson’s breakfast area. With a disarming smile she came directly to where I was sitting. “You must be Adli, it’s so nice to meet you,” she extended her hand to give me a confident handshake. With an equally friendly business partner, Kathy Gorchoff, Sally set about to make me feel so at ease that the next hour became the most fruitful meeting I had had in months.

    As she recounted her years of living and working the United States, I was struck by not just the ease with which she told her stories, but also her own self-awareness. “Every time I won a tournament,” she confided, “I would keep keep the trophy in a bag, then hid it under the bed.” She did not want her mom to make a fuss about the achievement.

    Here was no prima donna. This was not a stand-offish celebrity with guarded comments, wry smiles and tinted sunglasses. Perhaps the only trace she bore of the world champion golfer status was an unmistakable self-confidence that she integrated with an unusual openness and willingness to share candid insights. Drawing attention to a slight gait in her step as we concluded our meeting, she revealed that she was going to have an operation on her ankle but would be available on Skype. It seemed as if someone had clearly forgotten to inform Sally that she is regarded as one of the greats in a very prestigious game!