Don't be scared to take up new challenges. Tuks's Danilo von Ludwiger was not, and now he is representing South Africa at the Under-20 Ice Hockey Division III World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Yesterday the South Africans lost 6-1 against Australia. According to Von Ludwiger, they have no excuses for what happened.

"We stuffed up big time. We took the early lead during the first period of play, but unfortunately, then we got unstuck in the second period conceding five goals. We were not able to recover after that."

Today South Africa's is playing Turkey. The Tuks medical student is confident that this time around, they will give a better showing. 

Von Ludwiger hails from Namibia. It is not exactly a country known for its snowy conditions. That is why he started out playing roller hockey. His aggressive approach to the game did not go unnoticed. He was twice selected to represent Namibia at junior world tournaments.

Last year as a first-year medical student, he decided to join his brother, Andriko, playing volleyball for Tuks. The two of them had hoped to try and represent Namibia as beach volleyball players at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Their dream, however, got dashed due to a lack of funding. 

Due to missing the robust non-stop and no holds bar action of roller hockey Von Ludwiger also decided to check out what ice hockey is about. 

"I only got to play my first game at the end of July. I was playing in the second division league against some of the older players. In my first game, I scored three goals and in the next four. It was then decided that I should instead start to play at an under-20 level against players of the same calibre.

"The turning point for me was when I was selected to play the national under-20 trials. At first, I had to think about it as the trials clashed with an exam I had to write. I decided to take a gamble and forgo on studying and rather play. It paid off. I was selected to play for South Africa, and I passed as well."

Von Ludwiger has not given up playing volleyball. He hopes to again represent Tuks at the USSA indoor as well as beach volleyball tournaments. 

"I am passionate about both sports as they are so different. Ice hockey is all about full contact and aggresion while volleyball is more about being tactically astute. There are times you get aggressive, but it never leads to an opponent getting injured."