Walk slow, just don't stop.

Gabonnelwe Salome Kekana "Saluu", a Sports Management student at Tshwane University of Technology hailing from Soshanguve is a left back and striker for the people's University. She started playing at the age of 6, she used to play football with her brother and his friends - 'two pala' as they used to call it.

As she continued to play, her brother and mother realised that she had potential to grow then stirred her to in a direction that could help sharpen her talent and skill that's when she was taken Sediba Sa Tsebo primary school, where she was playing with boys from Grade R to Grade 6.

"I started my grade 7 at Babina Phuti Secondary school while playing amateur football without a team and playing with boys mixed with few girls. This was a school team under the guidance of Mr. Matsiela.When I was in grade 9 that's when my parents started looking for a ladies team around Soshanguve where I could embrace my talent with girls. They had to search for information, luckily my cousin, Katlego Molefe, had someone whom he knew that could help us, so he gave my mom the information she needed with regards to finding me a team" she said.

Kekana's journey began when she was referred to Army Joe Romans stars ladies team under the guidance of Mr. Joseph Rabalele (Bra monini) at Soshanguve, she grew from there while growing her profile and accolades, where in 2011/12 season she was the top goal scorer for the then ABSA Women's league. Just before the season ended, Kekana was selected to represent team South Africa in September 2012 - in the country of Sweden - there was a tournament called Dlala Ntombazana. She later on moved and grew together with another ladies team called 'Pull Together Ladies' under the leadership of Mr. Kgafane just before joining Tshwane University of Technology FC Ladies.

Salome switches between being a striker and left back for TUT, when asked of the lessons and experience with TUT she replied to say : "it’s been a very great journey with the TUT ladies team, I started playing with them in 2016 as a first year student. The team had very good players, so I had to fight for my spot just to form part of the team. Fortunately through my skills and hard work, I was selected to form part of the university squad. I made my debut appearance in Varsity Football Tournament in 2016 joining a team of ladies who have been playing in the tournament for 7 years and have won 6 consective years played. Since I’ve been at TUT, I have helped win the Varsity cup for 4 years consecutively and we also the won Sasol National Championship in 2018."

"When Tshwane University of Technology was also invited to participate in Girls Cup in Spain in 2018 I also made the sqaud of 20 players to represent TUT where we got position three at the tournament. Since I've been a part of the team , my talent was embraced and sharpened to its maximum potential as it opened a lot of opportunities for me. I received my first National call up when I got back from Spain and I was very happy and excited for the opportunity I was granted with."

"I went there and did my best and I thank TUT for the experience that I got at the training camp as I also made the sqaud of 25 players for the COSAFA Cup tournament, although I was on standby and I didn't make the final 20 but just by being there really showed and proved that I have potential and talent. Later on in year 2019, I also represented University Student of South Africa in Italy. I would also like to thank my teammates for their hard work they put in especially during games because it's through them that I am able to shine, I wish them all the best in their future endeavors and their sports career."

When asked about her biggest let down her response was "my biggest let down in my career to this point has to be when I when got a my first red card in the Varsity Football Tournament in 2018. We were playing against Tuks in the semi-finals and that robbed me of an opportunity to play in the final, I was very sad and it was not easy for me to be at the stands while my team was playing the final match as it was one game I was looking forward to."

The Varsity Football Tournament has been canceled for the year 2020, in as much as Salome is disappointed at the fact that this year was supposed to be the last year she plays with the Red Amry in the tournament - she believes that the cancelation was not an easy decision to make however was necessary, she further urges everyone to play their role to prevent the rapid spread of the virus.

Salome shares her experience about her her National call up : "the experience was honestly great,for me it showed my level of growth and reminded me how hard I've worked and should continue working as now the hard work has paid off. The call up came with pressure because now I was not just representing myself, family, TUT but the entire country so there was no room for slacking and I had to adjust to the pressure and the change of set up since both TUT and Banyana Banyana are different in their own right" she said.

Salome is known to many as a student, footballer, Herbalife distributor but what most people don't know is that she's part of a NGO called Young Minds Legacy, where they are helping the disadvantaged school to improve any sporting codes they have or want to persue, the sports courses offered by universities - basically they are an information hub to the schools, they provide them with relevant information that they need.

Gabo's parting words are:"remember that it doesn’t matter how slow you walk as long as you don’t stop. Don't let anyone to define you, believe in yourself work hard and be disciplined."