A case for professionalising indigenous African games.

I just watched a professional pillow fighting match on YouTube & realised that as Africans we really limit ourselves. Frankly, we often spread ourselves thin by wanting to participate in everything. Also, the most popular sports in the world are already crowded with such elite competition that it becomes near impossible for African teams & athletes to truly succeed or win titles. 

In combat sports, I'm a fan of MMA, some boxing, kickboxing & 5-on-5 MMA... I also occasionally watch slapfighting. Slapfighting & pillow fighting are real sports in 2026 where you can earn real money; why couldn't Laamb, stick fighting or even capoeira be made professional sports in Africa? We already have Indigenous Games tournaments in South Africa, why couldn't we professionalise these events & develop them with complete federations, rules, points systems & even punditry. I, genuinely, believe that stick fighting & Laamb could be national sports in both southern Africa & West Africa, respectively. 

If breakdancing can reach the Olympics, surely we could, at least, professionalise Laamb & Nguni stick fighting to make a new type of sports star in Africa. I'd like to see a famous Laamb wrestler & stickfighter making a living off their craft sooner rather than later. And would like to see a South African Nguni stickfighting Federation & a Senegalese Laamb Federation in future. We should make money from our own culture & be enterprising with what is ours, not for tourists but ourselves. 

• Nguni stickfighting 

• Laamb wrestling 

• Slapfighting 

• Professional pillow fighting 

• 5-a-side MMA 

• All-Africa Games