Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Good Morning, Goeie môre, Molweni
The great American Boxer Muhammad Ali once said, - and allow me to quote - "Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision." How does one awaken this desire, this dream, this vision? Where do we start? Well at the very basis lies getting a young boy or girl to just participate - mass participation if you like.
The Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS), envisions a society where sport is played and to be accessible to all communities within the Western Cape. To achieve this though, much discussion needs happen with academia, on the role they can play to not only ensure that sport is accessible to everyone, but more so the role they can play to strengthen the interface between the theory and the practice of sport.
When speaking to especially our youth, DCAS encourages them, to continue practising sport and where they possibly excel in it, to remember that sport can be practiced as a career. But ladies and gentlemen, honestly speaking, how realistic is this statement? Are we really succeeding in developing our young sportsmen and women to the point that they are able to play their sport professionally or for that matter take up any career related to the sport industry? What is the point of all this development if there are no opportunities for those being developed!
A serious discussion is needed in this regard, where we as the custodians of sport can develop a scenario whereby sport can be developed within our youth from a young age, but then further developed and nurtured to the stage at where talented sportsmen and women can practice their sport as a career.
For this to be achieved more debate needs to be happen on how the current disjuncture, between the world of research, the universities and a government department such as ours can be remedied. We need to be able, as a collective, to speak from one mouth on the challenges and achievements, but more importantly, the future of sport and our sporting nation. This discussion must be informed by research and who better positioned to do so than our universities, academics and practitioners such as yourselves.
Within DCAS, we have established a number of integrated programmes aimed at addressing issues within our communities. These programmes are indicative of the need for us to at times, in the absence of upfront formal research, respond to the needs of our communities and to adopt an action research approach as we attempt to improve on the nature and responsiveness of our programmes. We have seen that sport and the practicing of sport plays an important role in the development of any community. Sport in its being creates social cohesion. It plays a role in bringing people from different communities, backgrounds, races and creeds together around a common interest.
It is indeed our experience, that sport plays an important role in combating the social evils which plague our societies on a daily basis. Sport provides our youth an alternative to the anti-social activities they are faced with on a daily basis in many of our impoverished communities.
Among these programmes DCAS has embarked on a farm worker development programme aimed at creating sports federations within our farming communities. The aim, ladies and gentlemen, is to ensure that farm workers are not just left to their own devices over weekends, but rather have some sort of alternative to occupy them with, over weekends.
Along with this, DCAS has created and set in place a school sports programme, where children across the academic spectrum can be kept occupied, after their school day has been completed. This programme includes the development of MOD and Sharp Centres, which have been rolled out in the Western Cape very recently.
The Riaan Loots Programme, ladies and gentlemen, is another of these programmes, where DCAS aims to teach the message of no violence in sport. This has been done through information sessions and awareness programmes. The programme particularly targets the rugby community.
In closing ladies and gentlemen, talent comes from all spheres of society and from all corners of our country. It is up to us to ensure that this talent is identified, developed and nurtured. Together, through research, dialogue and debate and efficient and effective structures we can indeed ensure that this happen.
I thank you, baie dankie, enkosi.
For media enquiries please contact:
Angus Flowers
Tel: 021 483 9800
Cell: 083 304 3320
E-mail: aflowers@pgwc.gov.za
