New sporting medical facilities to open at Wanderers

Craig Govender, the owner of the centre and Highveld Lions and Cricket South Africa A physiotherapist, said the vision was to have the best medical centre in Johannesburg with top practitioners to help these players.

“We want to create an environment that can now cater for the underprivileged players,” he said.

“We want to give the youth the best possible services available. I want continuity. I want to create a database for all these kids who now can go through the ranks, be screened and assessed.”

Govender added that one of the things that inspired him to come up with the idea of the centre was seeing how disadvantaged children suffered from the lack of specialist treatment

“I have been treating a lot of players from disadvantaged areas for the past five years,” he said.

“One player from Kagiso came to me with a stress fracture, and it’s disappointing because today he is no longer in the system, and he could have been someone special.

“Gauteng Cricket has 72 to 100 disadvantaged cricketers in their ranks and there is no medical budget for it.”

He said these players were not getting the necessary assistance which they should and that had inspired him to look for the best practitioners he could find.

Govender added that he was trying to find a sponsor to create a development fund so he could pay for the services of these practitioners.

“This is the best stadium in the world,” he said.

“We want to develop the best cricketers in the world. We want to give them a sense of what a professional is at a young age, and when they are at the highest level they will have [fewer] injuries and make them more aware of their bodies.”

Details: Craig Govender 074 147 4423.