WORDS FROM THE VICE-CHANCELLOR

It is almost impossible to think about the past few months and imagine the wonderful sporting events and times we have enjoyed at the University. A year ago, we happily gathered at the UWC Sports Stadium to cheer on our student-athletes as they took to the field. Now, our stadium stands empty, a silent symbol of the days when the seats were filled with supporters and the field was abuzz with the energy of our sportsmen and women.

As I write this note, I am reminded of those days and can almost hear the shouts of encouragement when a UWC rugby player would make a mad sprint to dot the ball down behind the try line. I am also reminded of all our alumni and students who gathered to support our team and the energetic cheerleaders who urged the crowd to participate in the festivities.

COVID-19 has brought all of this to a halt. Our campus has grown silent and our sporting activities have ceased. Everything we have taken for granted as normal parts of our lives has been halted midstride, overtaken by a national lockdown and restrictions. The past months have been a difficult time for everyone and we have had to adapt to hugely altered circumstances.

However, things will get better eventually and we will slowly but surely regroup and gather again. We will create new memories — just like those that we hold dear from when everything was normal. How can we forget the exhilaration and pride we felt when our rugby team made it to the Varsity Cup for the first time under the very excellent leadership of Coach Chester Williams? Or when the victorious Springbok team, fresh

WORDS FROM THE VICECHANCELLOR

Prof Tyrone Pretorius Rector and Vice-Chancellor, University of the Western Cape

from their World Cup triumph in Japan, toured our campus with our former player Herschel Jantjies on top of the open bus? Those are amazing memories.

So too are the memories of our other sporting stars, like former student Thembi Kgatlana who visited UWC after being part of the first Banyana Banyana team to participate in the women’s Soccer World Cup. And let’s not forget about Kurt-Lee Arendse, who was called up to the Sevens Rugby national squad and formed part of the winning Blitzbokke team that won gold in Canada for the Vancouver leg of the HSBC 7s series? Similarly, Zubayr Hamza made history by becoming the first cricketer from UWC to don the senior national cricket team colours in a Test and the 100th player to represent the Proteas in the five-day format.

These are indeed wonderful memories and achievements of which we should be proud. It should also serve as a timely reminder of UWC’s ability to strive for excellence both on the academic and sporting terrains as well as our innate ability to rise above difficulties and hardship.

I am therefore confident that, once we return to a semblance of normality, we will slowly regain our momentum so that our student community can once again take to the fields and lecture halls.

As we look back on 60 years of sports at UWC in this special 60th-anniversary edition of the Blue and Gold, we know we stand on the shoulders of giants who used sport to further activism and to produce world-class sportsmen and women in a democratic South Africa. The future certainly looks bright as we offer the best of both worlds: a place for quality education where students can participate in the highest level of sports.

As we navigate our way to returning to the sports fields and the lecture theatres, I urge everyone to commit themselves to see this academic year to its end as best as possible. I fully understand that no single student or staff member shares the same circumstances and we will never fully know the sacrifices and hardship that our university community has had to endure during this time.

However, like before, I am confident that we will not only survive this challenging time but will also come together as a university community, united in a common purpose — be it academically or on the sports field. Our resilience as UWC will ensure we pull through this crisis and come out on the other side even stronger than we were before.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves and each other.

“I am confident that we will not only survive this challenging time but will also come together as a university community, united in a common purpose.”