Poane's tennis journey takes her to Grand Slam
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday February 5, 2021 10:18
The journey started at the tennis court, where the initial intention was to shed a few kilogrammes, but that has escalated to a blossoming career which has taken her to the sport’s highest point; the grand slams. As an umpire, she has officiated in almost all the Grand Slam qualifiers. She has been handling matches since 2016.
Last year March, she travelled to London to officiate at the 2020 Wimbledon qualifiers.
In February, she was in Melbourne to officiate at the 2021 Australian Open qualifiers. She was the only woman umpire from Africa amongst a couple of men from the continent. There are tournaments where she has to apply to officiate and some where she is invited. At the Australian Open qualifiers, Poane who is a white badge international tennis umpire, went through an invitation.
Poane was born 33 years ago and was partly raised in Palapye before she moved to Gaborone to do her junior certificate. She then proceeded to Mochudi for her senior secondary education.
“I then moved to Francistown College of Education in 2008 where I started playing tennis for fitness and weight loss for two years. I never played tennis from a young age, it was something I picked up along the way. I have fond memories of watching tennis with my family, all the Grand Slams, when I was young, so I guess that is why I chose tennis as a fitness regime. When I was in school, I played table tennis and threw javelin,” Poane told Mmegi Sport.She has officiated in a number of tournaments such as the Australian Open qualifiers, International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tour, All Africa Games, African Youth Games, Davis Cup, Fed Cup, ITF/CAT African Junior Circuit, ATP Challenger Tour amongst others.
But despite her colourful umpire resume, being a woman and African
come with challenges accompanied by benefits.
“The benefits of being an umpire is that you get to learn a lot. You get to travel a lot also, and make friends from across the globe, and there is a lot of room for growth. Since I became an umpire, I have handled tournaments I never imagined were possible. When I
got into it, I was thinking I was going to be doing tournaments in Botswana. The disadvantages are that we do not have a lot of tournaments in Africa, so opportunities are quite limited,” Poane said.
When asked if she does not get starstruck when officiating at big tournaments like the Grand Slam, Poane said it was against the code of conduct to openly admit supporting one player over the other. Poane is a white badge or roving umpire and her duties are similar to those of a chair umpire and include ensuring that assigned courts are ready for play, enforcing the rules of tennis, the code of conduct, the tournament regulations and resolving scoring disputes amongst players.
“In the next five years, the sky is the limit in terms of my career. I want to grow in anyway possible. Personally, I want to be married with kids. To those who dream of becoming umpires, go for it, but remember that it takes a lot of patience, a lot of hard work and perseverance,” Poane said.
FACT FILE
Full names: Gaone Poane
Date of birth: June 30, 1988
Place of birth: Palapye
Code: Tennis
Profession: White badge international umpire
Achievements: Officiating at Australian Open qualifiers, International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tour, All Africa Games, African Youth Games, Davis Cup, Fed Cup, ITF/CAT African Junior Circuit and ATP Challenger Tour.
Hobbies: Travelling and game drive
Favourite dish: My mother’s bogobe jwa lerotse and morogo wa Setswana. I also like dikgobe, but I am open to trying new dishes from your couscous to seafood pizza.