A HELPING HAND

A HELPING HAND Not content with peak on-field performance, UWC offers athletes holistic support

Lynne Rippenaar-Moses

While the performance of elite athletes on the field is important to help win matches, it’s what happens off the field that paves a future for athletes beyond their sports-playing years. Thanks to the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) academic development and support programmes, elite athletes at the University are better able to cope with the demands of professional sports alongside their academics.

A researcher based in the office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation and an academic support officer in Sports Administration, Dr Lwando Mdleleni runs one such programme.

“I’ve been involved with UWC’s Sports Administration for more than 15 years, from being an elite student soccer player for the first team and later captaining that team to an assistant coach — all while pursuing an academic career,” explains Dr Mdleleni.

Over the years, his observation of the academic performance and drop-out rates of elite athletes has led him to connect with Director of Sports Administration Mandla Gagayi and other stakeholders to discuss how to provide student development support to athletes in order to help them complete their studies.

“Mr Gagayi showed a keen interest in supporting studentathletes and his ideas resonated with what I wanted to do, which was to develop a programme where we could assist studentathletes to balance their academic and sports obligations — and meet both. Each year, the Sports Administration would recruit top athletes who would drop out the following year due to poor academic performance. There was just not enough support and, when athletes drop out of university, it also places an added burden on coaches to find new players to fill vacant spots.”

In response to this concern, Dr Mdleleni created a programme in 2020 that is focused on elite soccer players in their first and final year of studies. “We provide holistic support that extends beyond academics and ensures students have access to electronic devices, mentors and information about other support services they can access on campus.

“We also monitor the academic performance of these students and maintain constant communication with the faculties so if students do not meet academic requirements, we can release them from sports participation up until they can strike the right balance between sports and academics.”

The programme also assists athletes with access bursaries and top-up bursaries, including food

vouchers, which helps relieve the financial pressure on them, a factor that often causes anxiety and distracts them from their academic and sporting pursuits. Additionally, mental health services are provided through the Centre for Student Support Services.

While working as an assistant coach, Dr Mdleleni applied the principles he has incorporated into the current programme to support soccer player Renaldo Leaner, a UWC graduate who now plays professional soccer for Ajax Cape Town.

“When we would travel and he had to take a test, I would carry his scripts with me and would invigilate while he wrote his test then bring it back to campus. He showed commitment and struck that balance. Now, at the age of 22, he is a UWC graduate playing professional football.”

Other than Dr Mdleleni’s programme, the University also offers a Student-Athlete Mentoring Programme and a Rugby Academic Support Programme, both of which are coordinated by Ms Kelello Moeketse from the Sports Administration department.

Moeketse has been running the Rugby Academic Support Programme since 2019 and says its aim is to enhance the academics of rugby players who are struggling but are committed to improving their marks. “The pressure gets a lot during the first semester with the Varsity Cup games, many of which are away games. This makes it difficult for players to attend classes and write tests.

“With this programme, the University hopes to prevent the players‘ grades from dropping or prevent them from dropping out by helping them to balance their performance on the field with the academic aspects of student life.”

Additionally, she explains, this programme is compulsory for students that are scouted to play rugby for the University, whether they are struggling with their academics or not. On registration, they are provided with different kinds of support such as peer study groups, one-on-one inperson or online mentoring sessions, or help with writing letters to change programmes.

In turn, the Student-Athlete Mentoring Programme focuses on five priority sporting codes at the University: football, cricket, athletics, rugby and swimming. Mentors for the programme are

I WANTED TO DEVELOP A PROGRAMME WHERE WE COULD ASSIST STUDENT ATHLETES

final-year and postgraduate students and some are athletes who themselves excel within the academic sphere.

“This programme extends beyond academics to focus on peer support and companionship, which – with the rise in mental health issues at higher education institutions – is critical. The programme also places a large emphasis on connecting studentathletes with units and mentors on campus that can assist with specific challenges they face,” adds Moeketse.

Ntsako Masinga, a Master of Sciences (MSc) Biokinetics student in the Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science (SRES) department has mentored athletes for the last two years and, in 2020, is mentoring seven athletes. Her interest in sports psychology prompted her to enrol as a mentor.

“Sports psychology teaches you that sports are not just about performance but about mental toughness. While we focus on academics, it is mostly about being a friend to the mentee,” she says.

“My job as a mentor is to provide the student with emotional support and bridge the gap between the University and the student, helping them access other support services at the University.”