A SPORTING CHANCE

Active recruitment for university sport has been halted by COVID-19, but UWC has found opportunities amid the crisis

By Lyndon Julius | Photography: Lyndon Julius & Sikhulule Nkomphela

Glen Bentley, a support services manager at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) since 2018, expresses great excitement about the quality of the playing surface that will soon be available to all UWC athletes.

Bentley, who also manages the facilities at UWC Sport Stadium, has been in awe of the endurance and perseverance of both UWC athletes and coaches during the pandemic, but says there is a lot of work that will need to be done given the fact that schools and clubs – which remain the core recruitment hubs for universities – have been closed for sporting activities for months on end.

“The most important thing to consider is the fact that clubs and schools provide an excellent feeder system for athletes who wish to further their studies at UWC,” Bentley says. “This break in activity will be felt both in the short and long run, the former since there hasn’t been any sport played for about a full year and we are currently in the middle of what would have been the athletics season. The long-term effect will see the quality of events such as athletic meets, cross-country and intervarsity competitions be severely affected.

“Athletes will now have to recondition their bodies in order to push themselves to compete. I guess the silver lining is that all

athletes, globally, have been affected in some way by the lockdown regulations, so it evens out the playing field slightly.”

The bulk of the current UWC track-and-field athletes are making use of training grounds in the Parow and Blue Downs areas. These facilities also allow UWC coaches to take sight of elite school track-and-field athletes in these catchment areas, aiding and assisting the recruitment process.

“While most of our athletes are currently training at these grounds, there has been no mention of school sport taking place anytime soon. This will definitely be felt in the long term. Schools training at the same facility as our university allows our coaches some insight into the talent they can hope to recruit in future.”

Yet a glimmer of hope still exists for athletes across the country, following the go-ahead given by Athletics South Africa (ASA) for fixtures to be drawn up and athletic events to take place, all while adhering to government COVID-19 regulations. “This good news from ASA will help boost the morale of not only the coaches and athletes, but the administrators as well,” Bentley says.

In true UWC fashion, he and his coworkers did not wait for restrictions to be lifted before they began planning their 2021 events. The UWC Athletics track that was constructed in 1984 is currently being resurfaced for the first time. Construction is expected to be completed by July this year.

Chairperson of the UWC Rugby Club, Advocate Nicolas Kock, has had a challenging time of it, too. Despite having to recruit players in an unusual environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he remains in high spirits.

“The cancellation of the Young Guns 2021 edition of the FNB Varsity Cup means that some of our rugby players will not have played any rugby in two years,” Adv Kock laments. “Our Varsity Cup squad has been working tirelessly under the guidance of the new head coach, Paul Treu. They’ve recently entered the full contact phase of their periodisation and are on schedule in their preparations for the FNB Varsity Cup competition, which has been given the green light.

“It’s been very challenging but UWC Management has been extremely supportive and our medical team has been amazing in limiting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our athletes.”

With recruitment hurdles due to the pandemic, he says he will now take the opportunity to focus on the current crop of UWC players, ensuring they are optimally conditioned ahead of the impending tournament.

“A third wave of COVID-19 is expected to reach us in April and only taper off in June, so our options are severely limited.

“But we are maintaining a positive mindset for the benefit of our players, coaches and administrators.”

CLUBS AND SCHOOLS PROVIDE AN EXCELLENT FEEDER SYSTEM FOR ATHLETES