by Jay Caboz | May 18, 2012 | Featured 1, Sport
Published in Vuvuzela 14th Edition
Wits Tang Soo Do club brought home 20 medals from competing in the Free State Championships held in Bloemfontein last weekend.
The Korean martial arts club participated in the tournament alongside four other clubs from Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Nelspruit and Randfontein.
“If you don’t train hard it’s not going to become muscle memory,” said Ané van der Merwe, co-chairperson of Tang Soo Do (TSD) club, at the team’s fitness session on Tuesday evening.
“Core stabilisation is essential for the [Tang Soo Do] fighting form, so we need to do as much of this sort of fitness as we can. That’s where all the power in our kicks comes from.”
Kathrijn Thys, the other co-chair said: “We try to participate in as many competitions as we can. It’s really important to participate in these events. At Bloem, five of our students won 20 medals together.”
There were two categories the students could compete in. The first was TSD, which involves sparring as well as tests of form. The second involves a separate fighting style using a Korean sword called Haedong Kumdo (HK).
Van der Merwe won five medals (two for HK and three for TSD) and walked away with the award for HK senior participant of the day.
Other Witsies who were part of the club’s trophy haul were Zama Mbambo (two medals for HK and three for TSD), Titus Masike (three medals for TSD), Ngwato Kekana (two medals for TSD).
Ranking with a medal position in this tournament also meets one of the requirements for students hoping to compete in the World Tang Soo Do Championships to be held next year. Thys, Van der Merwe and Masike could qualify since they won additional medals at the SA Champs in March.
Commenting on the club’s success, Thys, who was awarded five medals (two for HK and three for TSD), said: “We have done very well this year with us competing well and having a large number of members join.
“Just last Tuesday and Thursday we had our club’s grading when a number of our white belts advanced to purple. Hopefully we can compete for Club of the Year again, which we won in 2010.”
jay@witsvuvuzela.com
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by Staff Reporter | Apr 25, 2012 | Sport
Wits Sports Administration (WSA) has spent over an estimated R1 million in the last three months on repairing sports facilities, allegedly vandalised and abused by Wits students, on all Wits campuses.
While the issue has been ongoing for some time, the WSA is now struggling with a lack of finances to pay for on-going repairs.
“Sports admin simply does not have the budget to repair as well maintain all of Wits’ sport facilities. And over the years the sports budget has decreased,” said Vardhan.
The Vuvuzela was told that it costs WSA R300 000 to repair a single tennis court and that to replace damaged or broken tennis court fences will cost R80 000.
WSA, according to Vardhan, generates no profit and on some occasions have to get assistance from PIMD.
When asked by Vuvuzela if WSA was doing anything to improve security around the sports facilities Vardhan replied that locks are put on the facilities gates but they are either cut or damaged.
“Security is an issue and we at WSA have to constantly remind campus security to watch the students during major sports events as well as over the weekend and Friday afternoons.”
Vuvuzela observed that the service delivery gate to the west and east campus gyms have been left open since February and Wits students constantly “hang out” on the cricket pitch.
“Students have no respect for Wits sports property, they cut holes in the tennis fences and run across the cricket pitch in soccer boots,” said Vardhan.
WSA plans to generate enough funding to establish a mobile security team to monitor all of Wits’ sports facilities.
In addition to vandalising sports facilities WSA staff have also observed students vandalising sports ablutions facilities.
The walking of pets on the sports fields and the failure to clean up after them has also become an issue that has been largely publicised.
FREE FOR ALL: A lack of security is largely to blame for damage to majority of Wits' sports facilities. Photo by Akinoluwa Oyedele.
by tanyaradzwa | Apr 25, 2012 | Sport
Ashraf Lodewyk, a first team player and an active member of the Wits Basketball Club died in a car accident eight years ago.
WITS Sport will be hosting the 8th annual Ashraf Memorial Basketball Tournament this week to remember the late psychology student.
A total of 31 teams will compete in the 2012 edition. There are 21 registered men’s teams and 10 women’s teams. Seventy-one matches will be played during the four day tournament and teams from Limpopo, Cape Town and Kwazulu Natal will be participating.
The tournament will take place at Hall 29 on west campus from the 26th to the 29th of April, beginning at 9am each day.
Chief organiser Manyani Maseko said the tournament also aimed to promote good administration of basketball in the country.
“During the time Ashraf was administrator, the Wits Basketball club was well supported on campus. The club also became more recognised within the Gauteng region. Ashraf was a charismatic, committed and loyal individual, who gained much respect in the Wits basketball community,” she said.
The top men’s and women’s teams will be awarded floating trophies, while the runners-up will be given medals.
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by Akinoluwa Oyedele | Apr 20, 2012 | Sport
A SET piece goal from Timothy Batabaire avoided a 6th consecutive loss for Bidvest Wits in the Absa Premiership. The Clever Boys played to a 1 – 1 draw against Ajax Cape Town on Wednesday night at the Bidvest Stadium.
Only a handful of fans braved the chilly Joburg weather to watch the match, which saw Ajax dominate possession early in the game.
Their consistency paid off in the 10th minute when Thembinkosi Fanteni opened the score sheet after he beat the keeper from close range.
Wits’ first real chance at scoring came from Sifiso Vilakazi ten minutes later, with a left-footed shot that went over the crossbar. Vilakazi subsequently missed another chance at goal in the 20th minute when he failed to convert a cross from Katleho Pule from 25 yards.
In the 59th minute, Ajax’s slim lead was cancelled by Batabaire’s equalizer.
A late strike by Asive Langwe in the 82nd minute was deflected over the bar by Ajax goalkeeper Sander Westerveld.
“We’ve conceded a lot of silly goals”.
Bidvest Wits coach Roger De Sa said it was “expected” of the Clever Boys to equalize. “They’ve got fantastic character, they come from a development that’s well groomed”, he said.
The coach lamented the careless mistakes which his players sometimes made. “It’s just the silly goals we concede sometimes that become a bigger problem for us, and we’ve conceded a lot of silly goals this year out of silly errors,” he said.
Wits take on log leader Orlando Pirates at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday, just 3 days after their encounter with Ajax. “We don’t have too much time to prepare, it’s more a question of rest”, De Sa said.
Wits beat Pirates in their last PSL encounter 3 – 1. Wits is currently 13th in the Absa Premiership log table, and haven’t yet won a game this year.
CHASING VICTORY: Wits is currently 13th in the ABSA Premiership log table, and haven' won a game this year.
Published in Vuvuzela 12th edition, 20th April 2012.
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Bidvest Wits in training
by Jay Caboz | Apr 20, 2012 | Featured 1, News
When a hockey ball caused 50 fractures to Andrew Hofmeyr’s skull, double vision and an almost complete loss of taste and smell, most people thought he was out of the game forever.
But this weekend, he made his first re-appearance for the Wits Men’s first team since 2009.
Hofmeyr was hit in the face after a defender from the University of the Cape Peninsular miss-cleared a hockey ball into the Witsie’s path. He was representing Wits Hockey in a South African Students Sport Union tournament, held in Bloemfontein.
He broke his nose, suffered a collapsed sinus and fractured cheekbones. Two pieces of his skull had penetrated the first membrane of his brain. He leaked brain fluid from his nose for 10 days after the game.
“I remember everything. I didn’t see the ball coming. After I got hit, one of my teammates just said, ‘Lie down Andy’. The umpire was saying that I must get off his turf and that I was bleeding all over it.”
“The doctors took an x-ray and said that I had broken my nose and would suffer from a minor concussion.
They gave me some pain killers and a splint for my nose and sent me back to the tournament.
“I spent the week in Bloem drinking and partying. We didn’t know anything was wrong.”
This was where the problem started, said Hofmeyr.
“After a week with the double vision at the tournament, I had to walk with my head sideways and wear an eye patch in order to see properly.”
When he arrived back in Johannesburg, Hofmeyr was sent to a brain specialist. “The doctors said that the alcohol I drank saved my life. It thinned my blood and prevented any clotting, which could have caused severe brain damage.”
Hofmeyr underwent two surgeries. The first removed the fragments in his skull, added a metal plate to reinforce his fracture and reconstructed his nasal passages. The second removed the fragments obscuring Hofmeyr’s vision. The operations cost just under R250 000, of which Wits covered R15 000 and his hospital plan the rest.
“They [doctors] said that I stood a 10% chance of ever regaining my sense of taste and smell…”
Six months later, Hofmeyr was back on the hockey field. “When I arrived at trials everyone thought I was mad. I played the entire season with double vision,” said Hofmeyr.
This year, Hofmeyr, now studying Health Sciences at the University, decided to compete with the men’s side for the first time since his injury. He underwent a final surgery to fix his eye sight in 2011 and now has complete vision.
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by Hazel Meda | Apr 10, 2012 | Featured 1, Sport
“It’s really just a big party for everyone involved.”
That’s how Stevan Johnson of the Wits rowing club describes varsity regattas.
“You don’t row the whole day, so you socialize with other universities… Everybody is just chilled…And then they switch on as soon as they get on the water, they get serious…and they do their thing.”
The Wits rowers “did their thing” at the University Sports South Africa sprint regatta, which was held at the Vanderkloof Dam in the Northern Cape on April 23 and 24.
Five Witsies were picked for the blues and grudge crews, made up of the top 16 rowers in the competition. The blues crew is the elite group, and they are challenged to a race by the grudge crew, which is the next best group of rowers.
In the women’s section, Maxine Pinto, Claudia Hazelwood and Jen Brensted-Smith all made the grudge crew.
Pinto said she was honoured to have been chosen.
“Many incredibly talented rowers put in enormous amounts of effort and time to try and make the blues and grudge selections.”
Fun-loving Witsies Graham Rex (left) and Mike Marshall proved that they are among the best varsity rowers in South Africa.
Work hard, play hard
In the men’s section, Graham Rex was chosen for the blues crew.
“My first year, I wasn’t chosen for a top crew. My second year and third year, I made grudge, and this year I was chosen for blues. So I’m quite chuffed with myself.”
He rewarded himself after the regatta.
“We had a good party that night. We really celebrated!”
Selection for blues and grudge is based on results during the regatta, as well as a rower’s performance during the ergo rowing machine time trials held before the regatta. Mike Marshall, who will row for the grudge crew, said he had done very well in the trials at the University of Johannesburg earlier this year.
The blues and grudge race normally takes place at the end of the regatta, but it was postponed, due to failing light and stormy weather. The race will now be held at the South African championships in East London early next month.
Tough times
The Wits team competed against 10 universities – including UJ, UCT, UKZN, Rhodes, Stellenbosch and Tuks – in races in different divisions.
Overall, the men’s team came fifth. The women’s team came fourth, missing the third-place position by just two points.
The rowers Vuvuzela spoke to felt that they could have done better if they had had a coach.
“We can’t look for a full-time professional coach because we just don’t have enough money.”
The club hopes to have a coach soon, since a Johannesburg advocate has expressed interested in coaching them on a voluntary basis.
Links
Row SA
FISA, the international rowing federation
London Youth Rowing charity
by Sakeena Suliman | Aug 11, 2011 | Featured 1, Sport
Wits’ female boxers are dropping out of the sport because of the lack of opponents at tournaments and the gruelling preparatory training necessary for bouts that are not “in the bag”.
Bakholise Mabuyane, chairperson of the Wits Boxing Club and vice chairperson of University Sports South Africa, has been boxing since 2008 but has not had one fight.
“Every time I decide to go for a tournament, I don’t get anyone in my division,” she says.
Mabuyane is a light welterweight and is the only female boxer in the gym who fights in that division. She says her boxing has improved over the years – despite having zero fights on her card – because she spars with the guys.
“It’s quite disappointing training for a tournament and not getting a fight and even when you host a tournament you sort of don’t look forward to it because you know there’s zero chance of getting an opponent.”
Tando Melapi, who revived the club as a Witsie in 1998, is helping the senior boxers train for the Johannesburg Amateur Boxing Organisation tournament at Wits on August 27.
“It’s a universal phenomenon that female boxing is not so popular and relatively new. It’s seen as rough and for tomboys,” says Melapi.
He says, in the past, coaches who wanted their female boxers to gain ring experience would find women in a division close to their boxer’s and the boxers had to lose or gain weight to allow for a fight in the same division.
“What helped us before at Wits is that we had many females who wanted to fight and two coaches which meant we could not ignore female boxing and had to be innovative.”
The stable currently does not have a formal coach and Mabuyane says there are far fewer competitive female boxers than when she started.
“It feels like the fact that females are competing in the sport hasn’t been appreciated. People aren’t supporting it and society doesn’t encourage female boxing,” she says.
by Enos Phosa | Aug 11, 2011 | Sport
BIDVEST Wits play their first match of the 2011/12 Absa Premiership season on Sunday.
The team will hope to put last weekend’s MTN 8 quarter-final loss to Kaizer Chiefs in the past and move on quickly when they travel to Harry Gwala Stadium to face Maritzburg United.
Despite the 2-1 knockout defeat against Amakhosi at FNB Stadium, the Clever Boys displayed great attacking football with danger-man Bhongolwethu Jayiya’s skill and pace causing all sorts of problems for the Chief’s backline in the game’s opening minutes.
Wits stunned Chiefs by taking the lead in the 11th minute through a headed goal by new signing, Sboniso Gumede, after a floated Jayiya corner kick.
Nine minutes later Gumede went from hero to villain by conceding a penalty with an ill-timed tackle on Mandla Masango in the 18-yard box. Amakhosi striker Bernard Parker, on his official debut, slotted the spot-kick into the bottom corner giving Wits keeper Emile Baron no chance of saving.
Chiefs then scored their second goal, and the match winner, four minutes before half-time through Masango who received a brilliant chipped pass from Lehlogonolo Majoro after good interplay by the Chiefs front players.
Despite a few minor errors at the back, Wits coach Roger De Sa will be pleased with the team’s progress so far and hope to keep the attacking momentum displayed by the team at the weekend into Sunday’s game.
Wits will need to create more clear-cut scoring opportunities than they did against Chiefs if they stand any chance of overcoming Maritzburg United and bagging three points. The Students will be boosted by the return of striker Sibusiso Vilakazi to training this week after being forced to sit out in previous games through injury.
Getting the season off to a winning start will be a priority for both teams, and the very competitive match will be played at a high tempo. This fixture produced a 1-1 draw last season, but it is Maritzburg United which has the upper hand after having beaten Wits 2-1 at Bidvest Stadium in their second fixture in the latter stages of the season.
