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Ken Borland



Hosting U21 World Cup very important news for SA hockey 0

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Ken

In a very important development for South African hockey, the FIH Women’s Junior World Cup will be hosted by the North-West University in Potchefstroom from December 5-16.

But this is not just an historic landmark for South Africa but Africa as a whole, because it is the first hockey world cup at any level to played on the continent.

As hosts, South Africa’s U21 team gets to play in the tournament, joining 15 other countries in the biennial event that brings together sides from every continent.

Sheldon Rostron, the former head coach of the South African senior women’s side, is the chairman of the local organising committee in his capacity as the director of sport at North-West University.

“This is a very important honour for South African hockey,” Rostron said. “It will have several spinoffs like establishing that we can host more events like this in South Africa.

“We can build a foundation of trust with the FIH and hopefully they will see us as a prime destination for future events. The country is hungry for hockey and hopefully corporates will see this global event, identify it as being exciting and invest more in hockey.

“It also gives our South African hockey players more international exposure, which is always great, and because we are in as hosts, it means Zimbabwe will be a second African team in the competition, which is also a first,” Rostron said.

North-West University is known for its world-class sporting facilities and leading teams and athletes from all over the world have held camps in Potchefstroom. Rostron said they are well-equipped to host such an important event.

“The good thing about Potchefstroom for sportspeople is that you are in close proximity to all the resources you need. It has always been the focus of the university to assist athletes and federations, and they come from across the world to come train here.

“With our high-performance institute and local businesses all being accustomed to events like this, it’s really easy to host tournaments in Potchefstroom,” Rostron said.

It is going to be tough though for the South African team to make it through to the quarterfinals from their pool: Germany, Spain and the United States are their opponents and all of them are women’s hockey powerhouses.

Australia and New Zealand were not able to play due to Covid travel restrictions in their countries.

Pools

Pool A – Ireland, Korea, Netherlands, Zimbabwe.

Pool B – Belgium, Canada, England, Uruguay.

Pool C – Argentina, India, Japan, Russia.

Pool D – Germany, South Africa, Spain, United States.

From 2016 in Kruger to last week at Zebula, KFC Mini-Cricket has kept the same energy 0

Posted on November 11, 2021 by Ken

The last time I was fortunate enough to attend the KFC Mini-Cricket National Seminar was five years ago in Kruger Park, so it was wonderful to see CSA’s flagship development programme has lost none of its energy or passion when I was invited to this year’s annual gathering, held at Zebula Golf Estate outside BelaBela last week.

This mass participation grassroots programme, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year, is operated by the noble crew of 10 500 volunteer coaches, working closely with the sponsors and CSA’s development office.

Some of the bile that has been thrown around in cricket circles over the last couple of years has been difficult to stomach, but being able to share in an environment where everyone is just working for the love of the sport, where egos are put to the side because this is the grassroots game, is gratifying enough to cure the most severe indigestion.

Graeme Smith, as director of cricket, has had to deal with much of that bile, but he was happy and relaxed at Zebula, being asked for plenty of photographs by the delegates after his address on the first morning.

“I basically just gave them an update of where cricket is and then it was great to sit through the sessions with them,” Smith said.

“I feel like I’ve been starved of being on the ground with these sort of cricket-lovers. It’s so exciting to be here, this programme is nearly 40 years old and has been a massive investment in the game at all levels.

“All credit to the volunteer coaches and co-ordinators who grow their communities and are mentors for the youngsters. It’s so important that kids have the opportunity to be touched by the game and I know how important KFC Mini-Cricket is to CSA.

“These coaches are the life-blood of our game and I’ll be surprised if there are any other development programmes in this country that come close in terms of reach,” Smith said.

Unfortunately though, like everything else, the effectiveness of the KFC Mini-Cricket Programme does come down to how many Rand are in the bank for CSA.

The organisation held its AGM last weekend and the financial statements clearly showed the serious effects of Covid and how important it is for the Proteas to be a ‘box-office’ team on the global stage.

CSA still has total assets of R797 million, but they suffered a nett loss of R221 million in 2020/21, having budgeted for just a R177 million deficit.

This was largely due to broadcast revenue plummeting from R534 million to R161 million. Having made up almost half of CSA’s revenue the previous financial year, broadcast rights now only accounted for 31% of profit. Sponsorships also dropped from R186 million to R79 million, 15% of revenue.

Accordingly, in an environment of sometimes brutal cost-cutting (but pleasingly with no employees laid off because of Covid), investment in development dropped from R385 million to R273 million.

So anyone who wants to see the game in this country truly transform has to also acknowledge that the Proteas have to be one of the best teams internationally. That’s the only way the Big Three will want to tour here, generating the lucrative broadcast rights that are by far CSA’s biggest revenue-earner.

And KFC Mini-Cricket has certainly produced its fair share of Proteas – Beuran Hendricks and Sinalo Jafta were two in attendance at Zebula. But the programme also wants to empower the coaches, while bringing an estimated 118 000 kids from diverse schools and communities together this summer, introducing them to cricket and also getting them active.

Barring development of fresh Covid cases, Sharks will have full squad for semifinal 0

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Ken

Barring the development of further Covid infections in the next week, Sharks coach Sean Everitt said on Thursday that he will have a full squad to choose from for their Currie Cup semi-final against Western Province at Newlands next weekend.

The Sharks had their last round-robin match – also against Western Province in Cape Town – cancelled after several positive Covid tests in their camp, but the outbreak would now appear to be over as the whole squad tested negative this week.

“At the moment no-one is ruled out and as things stand we will have a full squad to choose from for the semi-final. And I’m extremely confident that it will stay that way because the players have really tried hard to isolate at home, and I believe the other three teams are the same. Nobody wants to miss out on a semi-final and potential final, and we control what we can.

“We have a good week’s training, although some guys still need to work through the Covid protocols and will only return to training later. The return-to-play is a different process for the number of guys that tested positive and some of them will only return to training on Saturday. The severity of symptoms vary, but we’re in a pretty good space at the moment,” Everitt said on Thursday.

The Sharks had just notched a highly-impressive win over the Bulls when the virus struck their camp, leading to weakened teams being well-beaten on the road by the Lions and Free State Cheetahs. But the KwaZulu-Natalians bounced back with a commanding 47-19 win over Griquas in their last outing on January 2, and Everitt believes they have the potential to carry that momentum all the way in this year’s Currie Cup if they can eliminate individual errors.

“Since those defeats we’ve been able to get the show on the road and prepare properly, and when we’ve been able to pick our best team, we’ve been able to deliver a performance. Obviously our rhythm has been disrupted, but we came back strongly after our last break to beat the Bulls, we have a full squad to select from and the guys are raring to go.

“It’s always easier going to Cape Town than playing on the Highveld and if we can eliminate the individual errors, then I’m not too concerned about whatever conditions we’ll face. We all know Western Province have a good set-piece, and I’m sure they’ll try and use their strengths to dominate us, but if we get that right then I’m sure we’ll have a very good chance of winning,” Everitt said.

The Lockdown threatens the flagship Soweto CC – Abt 0

Posted on June 05, 2020 by Ken

The Soweto Country Club, the flagship of the Sunshine Tour’s development programme, is under threat due to the continued prohibition on golf, deputy commissioner Thomas Abt admitted on Thursday.

Soweto Country Club was designed by Gary Player and built in 1974, but fell into disrepair before a major refurbishment turned it into an iconic course in South Africa’s most famous township. Sunshine Tour commissioner Selwyn Nathan spearheaded the fundraising effort that saw both local and overseas corporates, the government and golfers themselves contribute to the revamp of a 6560-metre parklands layout that holds a special place in the heart of Black golfers and the Soweto community at large. The championship course hosted the Joburg Ladies Open in March 2019, an international event co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour.

But now the continued success of this incredible project is in question because Soweto Country Club, like the majority of golf clubs in South Africa, is in a dire financial situation due to being closed for the last 10 weeks as government imposed a Lockdown to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Soweto Country Club is absolutely threatened,” Abt said on a Sunshine Tour virtual press conference on Thursday. “One has to tip the hat to Selwyn Nathan, who championed the revamp and got funding from various tours and businesses around the world. But the club needs a sustainable platform and maintenance of the course is critical. We’ve had to re-evaluate maintenance and reduce the number of staff employed because there are no rounds of golf, no food being sold by caterers and no beverages being bought to bring in money.

“So the sooner golf clubs can reopen the better, it’s a very unfortunate situation and we’ve had to put plans in place to try and save Soweto Country Club. It’s been a tough time for GolfRSA but they have put their best foot forward and had positive discussions with the Minister, the Department of Sport and his advisors. We’ve had constant engagement on almost a daily basis,” Abt said.

Much of that engagement has been centred around trying to get government to better understand the dynamics of how golf works in South Africa, with the decision to allow professional golf to resume not having any impact without the clubs and amateur game being allowed to follow suit.

“In our discussions we’ve been trying to understand the reasons why we can’t play golf and we’ve also tried to help them understand better how the Lockdown applies to golf and Grant Hepburn [GolfRSA CEO] has engaged them on how the sport works in this country: In order for the professional game to take place, the amateur game and their facilities have to open up first and then the pros can.

“Our country seems to have it the other way round, but the amateur game supports the professional game and that message seems to have been absorbed now. In the meantime we’ve asked our professionals not to put any pressure on facilities to open. So they’re not able to do anything just yet, but the clubs and ranges have been closed for more than 60 days so we can wait a few more days to play golf again legitimately,” Abt said.

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    1 John 2:5 – “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.”

    James 2:14 – “What good is it if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?”.

    Love without action is useless.

    If you love God unreservedly, you will offer your best to him and be willing to serve him wherever he wishes to use you.

    Love has to manifest itself practically.

    “Love requires uplifting and inspirational deeds.

    “How genuine can your love for God truly be if you are aware of a serious need and do nothing to alleviate it?”- Solly Ozrovech, A Shelter From The Storm



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