DIRECTOR’S CORNER

Mandla Gagayi, Director, UWC Sport Administration

I write this with a heavy heart and deep sadness, following the looting, destruction and loss of lives in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. There are also ongoing taxi wars in the Western Cape, which puts many people’s lives at risk of either getting shot while in transit or losing a job because of not having transport to get to work. These incidents make me feel ashamed to be South African. Such behaviour can never be used to justify hunger and poverty. Surely, there are better ways for us to address our concerns that do not include destroying property or killing each other.

Despite these setbacks, this year began with some sense of hope, with sport gradually returning to action after a full year of silence. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed that the Tokyo Olympics (postponed in 2020) would go ahead, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed the British and Irish Lions Tour of South Africa would proceed, and almost all national and provincial sporting federations kickstarted their programmes under strict COVID-19 regulations.

UWC Sport’s mission started with Varsity Cup in a centralised format in Pretoria. The excitement of playing again was written on the face of every player and manager throughout the competition. Our team played like there was no tomorrow; they played this way as they knew that many people would never get the opportunity to play or even watch rugby again, having lost their lives to COVID-19. The 2021 Varsity Cup was a great success based on our definition of success. We finished sixth out of 10 teams, our highest Varsity Cup finish to date.

The Varsity Cup was followed by University Sports South Africa (USSA) Athletics, hosted by the University of Johannesburg (UJ). Again, our athletes gave a good account of themselves, finishing seventh out of 12 on the medal table. Our women’s football also resumed their Hollywoodbets National League after a launch where we announced Macron Sports as our technical sponsor. What followed was great on-field performances that resulted in our team occupying the second spot on the log (at the time of writing) behind Mamelodi Sundowns.

We are now looking forward to our netball and women’s football participation in their Varsity Sports competitions, which began in August. I know our teams are always ready to face a challenge and I won’t be surprised if they go all the way.

Now, one may ask, how does UWC manage to consistently compete under the current circumstances? The answer is simple. We’ve always trained and conditioned ourselves to compete against all odds. Given that we have always been regarded as underdogs, we’ve therefore been forced to always give 10 more punches for every punch we take. The difficulties that all teams faced during the pandemic came to us as something that we have always conditioned ourselves to deal with.

Sadly, with the introduction of the adjusted Level 4 lockdown, sport was once again suspended. However, we understand the importance of saving lives and livelihoods and, as such, we will continue to play our part in the fight against the pandemic. Our student athletes continue to train as individuals and small groups, and have also just finished their mid-year exams. I am hopeful that, very soon, sport will return and we will continue providing opportunities to our studentathletes through sport.

Sport may be on hold but the show must still go on. We recently hosted a gender equality workshop for all UWC Sport staff and the Student Sports Council leadership. This was successful in addressing some stereotypes around gender issues. We plan to host a series of these, extending them to coaches and student athletes, too.

Our facilities’ upgrades are still on the go and we hope everything will be done by October. Our main field has been grass-seeded and is undergoing regular treatment and irrigation to ensure the grass grows in preparation for December competitions. The athletics track is laid and ready for approval by an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) inspector before lines can be marked. The informal feedback from our athletic coaches is that the track is fast and they cannot wait to test it. The VIP lounge and high-performance gym upgrades are 70% complete and, with all these projects on the go, 2022 promises to be an exciting year for sport at UWC. Until then, let’s all stay safe. #WeAreUWCSport