Kuils River’s Naylene Morgan, a matriculant at TuksSport High School in Pretoria, was honoured with a Top Achiever Award at the school’s recent prizegiving ceremony.

The school celebrated two learners who have excelled both in the classroom and on the sports field. Besides Naylene, Hina Keet, who has represented Gymnastics South Africa as a member of the Region 5 Senior Team, was also recognised.

Naylene has maintained a place among the top ten learners in her grade since Grade 8. Her dedication to soccer earned her selection to South Africa’s u-20 women’s soccer team, competing against Ghana in the third round of the FIFA u-20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers earlier this year.

More recently, from 1 to 8 October, she captained the South African Football Association (SAFA) Academy team on a development tour to Porto, Portugal. The team impressed in four international friendlies, recording two wins, two draws, seven goals scored and only two conceded.

ALSO READ: Kuils River’s Naylene Morgan shines with South African u-17 women’s team

A journey from Rouxville Primary

Naylene’s path to TuksSport began at Rouxville Primary in Kuils River, where her former soccer coach, Nathan Newman, recognised her potential. In her Grade 7 year, Newman and principal Serina Daniels made it their mission to secure her a place at the best possible high school.

After several rejections, the breakthrough came in October 2021, when Sheryl Botes, head coach of the SAFA Girls Soccer Academy at TuksSport, invited Naylene to a trial and assessment in Pretoria. Daniels, Newman and Rouxville Primary’s school governing body helped cover the costs of the trip. Naylene started Grade 8 at TuksSport in 2022 on a full scholarship.

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The SAFA Girls Soccer Academy operates out of TuksSport High School at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre, serving as a development pipeline for South African women’s football.

Grandmother’s pride

Naylene and her two brothers were raised by their grandmother, Amelia Taute, who took on the role of a single mother and sometimes struggled to make ends meet.
When Naylene left for Pretoria to begin her first school year, Taute’s heart was at ease, knowing her granddaughter was self-motivated and hardworking despite being far from home.

Taute, who attended the prizegiving in Pretoria, previously described Newman as an angel who saw Naylene’s potential and was willing to go the extra mile to support her.

Newman said he was supposed to join Taute on the trip but could not due to other commitments. “Her immediate family and myself assisted with the costs of the return flight,” he said. Naylene had never had a family member present at any of her high school award ceremonies. “We wanted to ensure her ‘ma’ was at least at her matric year awards evening.”
Newman added that Naylene has already been offered college football scholarships from two American universities.