G Oosthuizen: Opening of North West University PUK First National Bank
High Performance Institute

8 September 2006

The Premier of the North West province, Ms Edna Molewa (TBC)
The MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr N Duma
The Mayor of Potchefstroom, the Honourable Mr A Mapetle (TBC)
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Personal Banking of FNB, Mr Peet van
der
Walt and his delegation
Members of the institutional management of the University of North West
Members of the management committee of the Potchefstroom Campus of the
University of North West
Representatives of the North West Academy of Sport
Ladies and gentlemen

It is a pleasure to be present here at the official opening of the North
West University PUK FNB High Performance Institute. Congratulations to all who
are responsible for this institute. It is a visionary and bold initiative which
comes at a time when South Africa needs it most. It once more indicates that we
have great South Africans in all parts of our country that can respond to the
needs of our nation.

On 9 June, our President devoted his weekly column to comment on the state
of sport in the country. President Mbeki also referred the performance of our
teams and when referring to our absence from the 2006 Federation Internationale
de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup and our performance in the African Cup
of Nations he said, "It sounded alarm bells about the state of soccer in our
country and sports in general.". The President also made the assertion that we
are trivialising sport in our country and that if we want to change this
situation we have to devote more resources to sport. The letter ended saying
that Lilliputian effects cannot produce Olympians.

Through this effort you are showing commitment to sport and athlete
development in our country. I see this as a demonstration of your belief in the
future of sport and the future of South Africa.

Two weeks ago the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic
Committee
(SASCOC), unveiled their plans to build a US$500 million state of the art
national sports college and nine satellite centres that will accommodate
approximately 3 000 athletes. This college will be one of the world's biggest
and best resourced facilities, which aim to provide our best young sporting
talent with every opportunity to succeed at the highest level.

As we all know, we have other high performance institutes in other parts of
the country. The question may well be asked what would be the role of these
centres once the SASCOC initiative gets off the ground in 2009.

I pose the question, because government would like to see a model where the
existing facilities are optimally used, for our own athletes and their
development as well as an instrument to boost our sports tourism industry. The
President of SASCOC, Mr Moss Mashishi, said that "these centres will and must
continue to play a central role in the development of our national teams and
our national athletes." We welcome this view because, one centre, no matter how
well resourced and state of the art it is, will not be the answer to all our
challenges.

There are examples in the world of countries that set out with a centralised
model that reverted to decentralisation after experiencing challenges. We have
to learn from those experiences while at the same time ensuring that there is
synergy between all these institutions and the national plan.

We have made some funds available over the past three years for a National
Academy Programme. In this programme we have, through SASCOC, responded to the
needs of the national federations in preparing our athletes for major
international competition. The main feature of the programme has been to bring
athletes to camps before major competitions. I am afraid that this approach is
not going to yield the required results. We will have to start thinking and
involving our athletes in a Long Term Athlete Development Programme that will
stretch over more than one Olympic cycle.

We all know that it takes at least ten years to prepare an Olympic champion.
To involve athletes into a programme two years before the Olympic will deliver
limited results. We need a structured Long Term Athlete Development Programme
that should be the golden thread that runs through our National Sports Plan. My
department is currently developing our National Sports Plan in conjunction with
SASCOC. The sports plan must on the one hand be the system that delivers our
elite athletes. On the other hand it must contribute to make us an active
nation.

As a nation we should be more active, more often.

Once finalised, this document will become the blueprint for sport in South
Africa. It will inform the guideline for funding by government, the national
lottery and we certainly hope the sponsors.

A Long Term Athlete Development Programme will assist us to address some of
our transformation objectives. Often talented athletes disappear when they
leave school because we lack a support system when they venture out into the
big, wide world. If they are part of our Long Term Athlete Development
Programme, they will be nurtured and supported to achieve their optimum
potential. This we believe is an initiative that will see South Africans win
more medals.

In conclusion I want to wish the institute well. I am confident that this
institute will produce national and world champions that will do our country
proud. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to FNB for their involvement in
this project. Let me say it: Sport in our country is indebted to our sponsors
who play a significant role to keep the profile of sport high.

Thank you for that support.

Issued by: Sport and Recreation South Africa
8 September 2006
Source: Sport and Recreation South Africa (http://www.srsa.gov.za)