At a tender age of 16 years, Mariam Monnapula is demonstrating huge promise not only in football but also in leadership and youth advocacy.
A skilful winger for the Kick4Life Junior Women’s team and a committed participant in the Kick4Life Academy, she represents a new generation of Basotho youth who are ambitious and eager to uplift their communities.
Born and bred in Khubetsoana, Maseru, Monnapula’s football journey started on the dusty neighbourhood pitches where she often played with older boys.
That experience sparked a competitiveness that continues to drive her growth. Her passion for football deepened through her uncle, who is a devoted Real Madrid fan.
“Whenever I visited him, we would watch matches together,” she recalled.
“That is how I fell in love with Real Madrid. Vinícius Júnior is my favourite player, we are both wingers, and we even share a birthday.”
By the time she reached Grade 8 at Lesotho High School in 2022, Monnapula’s path was beginning to take a clearer shape. Her uncle encouraged her mother to enrol her in the Kick4Life Soccer Schools programme, where she soon witnessed the results of hard work and consistent training.
When a schoolmate, Hlompho, earned a place in the Kick4Life Junior Women’s team, Monnapula felt encouraged to follow suit.
“Seeing how much she improved pushed me to work harder. I wanted to follow that path,” she says.
Joining Kick4Life opened a transformative chapter in her life. Benefiting from the organisation’s holistic Academy model, she excelled both academically and athletically. This year, she completed her Grade 11 examinations and awaits her results with confidence.
She already knows she performed strongly in 2025, emerging as a top performer in Chemistry and Physics, and recording significant improvements in Sesotho and other subjects through Kick4Life’s tutoring support.
On the field, her development has been equally impressive. She points to the 2024 winter training sessions as a turning point in her performance and self-belief.
“I pushed myself to ask for feedback after every session. During league games, when our names were announced and mine was there on the team sheet, it made all the hard work worth it,” she said proudly.
Kick4Life’s career guidance workshops further strengthened her ambition. Listening to testimonies from scholar-athletes such as Thabo Mahlaha motivated her to pursue excellence in every aspect of her life.
“The life skills programmes helped me build confidence and see the world differently.”
Beyond daily training, she takes part in Run4YourLife, Kick4Life’s weekly community run or walk. In October, she proposed and helped organise a Breast Cancer Awareness run, which became a successful awareness-raising initiative.
Monnapula’s leadership extends far beyond football. She is an active member of the Child Leadership Team, where she advocates for children’s rights, and she participates in Youth Voices for a Sustainable Future, contributing to discussions on environmental protection and climate justice.
Her commitment to leadership earned her a place at the 2024 Regional Child Leadership Conference in Lilongwe, Malawi, held on the Day of the African Child. Selected for her academic strength, leadership qualities and interest in law, she joined young change makers from across the continent to address issues affecting children.
“It was a new experience that opened my eyes,” she reflects. “I built connections with young advocates from different countries and developed a strong spirit of advocacy.”
Off the pitch, Monnapula continues to push boundaries academically and technically. As a member of the Girls Coding Academy, she has completed two seasons in the First Tech Challenge robotics competitions.
In her debut 2023–2024 season, she served as Head of Assembly, helping design and build her team’s robot, an effort that earned them sixth place at the Gauteng Sci-Bono competition in South Africa. In the 2024–2025 season, she rose to the roles of Team Captain, Head of Assembly and Driver, demonstrating strong engineering ability and leadership.
“I want to be an aerospace engineer and an environmentalist.”
She recently joined the Build-in-a-Box programme hosted at Kick4Life, an entrepreneurial leadership camp run by the African Leadership Academy.
“It was transformative. It challenged me to think critically, innovate, and envision myself as a change-maker.”
Summary
- A skilful winger for the Kick4Life Junior Women’s team and a committed participant in the Kick4Life Academy, she represents a new generation of Basotho youth who are ambitious and eager to uplift their communities.
- She is an active member of the Child Leadership Team, where she advocates for children’s rights, and she participates in Youth Voices for a Sustainable Future, contributing to discussions on environmental protection and climate justice.
- Her commitment to leadership earned her a place at the 2024 Regional Child Leadership Conference in Lilongwe, Malawi, held on the Day of the African Child.
Seabata Mahao is a general news reporter with special focus on Business and Sports. Started working at Newsday in 2021. Working in a team with a shared goal is what I enjoy most and that gives me the motivation to work under any environment leading to growth.
