Humanities Education students celebrate Mini Olympic Day at Rosina Sedibane Sports School

Posted on November 24, 2022

‘I feel honoured to have been able to offer a helping hand. It is really gratifying to be part of a university that cares about the community.’ These were the words of Siyabonga Bukhali, a Higher Certificate in Sports Sciences student at the University of Pretoria who attended the National Recreational Day Mini-Olympics at the Rosina Sedibane School Sports Ground on Friday, 7 October 2022. The event was hosted by Altus Sport in partnership with the Sport for Social Change Network.

Altus Sport is a grassroots organisation that uses sports as a tool for community, youth and girl empowerment. Their flagship programme, Life’s a Ball, is sustainably run by their quality sports leaders at more than 120 venues throughout Gauteng. National Recreational Day was introduced in 2014 to keep South Africans active.

‘Currently the programme is organised by the SSCN, which works with non-profit sports organisations throughout Africa. This year we also involved other African countries, namely Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania. To teach learners about the Olympic Games, Altus Sport is organising a full-on Olympic Day that will include the lighting of the flame and the parade with participants from different countries,’ said Samantha Penells-Ingle, Head of Projects, Monitoring and Evaluation Management at Altus Sport. The organisation emphasises the importance of the Olympic values in sports in their leaders. To achieve this, they host several conferences and events throughout the year to address Olympism and bring people of different ages, including young children, together through sport.

‘We have broom hockey, touch rugby, street soccer and an art station where the kids make drawings that symbolise the Olympics. You don’t have to go to the Olympics to be an Olympic athlete. As long as you adhere to the Olympic values, which are respect, responsibility and fair play, you are as good as an Olympics athlete,’ Samantha Penells-Ingle said and added that her objective was to encourage more people to work at the grassroots level, teaching children important values from a young age, as this will produce more empowered athletes in South Africa.

‘We will meet with L.J. van Zyl and his department to see if there are students who would like to join Altus Sport to become youth leaders next year. We are hoping to encourage students to see the need for people to work in development at the grassroots level. The most valuable lesson I have learned from working with young children is that we all need to care for each other. To produce outstanding athletes as a country we need to teach the players the fundamentals at a young age,’ she concluded.

Tuks student Juanette Prinsloo agrees that by working at the grassroots level children can be taught leadership at a young age. As a hockey player she hopes to get an opportunity to train younger kids before hopefully starting to work for Hockey South Africa.

‘It is really interesting to see how children think and see the world. The values of Olympism are important because they teach them respect and how to treat each other. Children need to learn how to be empathetic,’ Prinsloo said. She also mentioned that she was grateful to be part of a university that, unlike some others, helps students to find organisations where they can do practicals. Although most people struggle to find work, we receive emails informing us of amazing opportunities for which we can apply. It is also great to be studying at a university that cares about the community,’ she concluded.

- Author Nozibusiso Sibiya

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