UJ squash star says discipline is the key to her success
AUCKLAND PARK – Reflecting on this student-athletes performance on and off the court.
University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) squash’s Alexa Pienaar was recently named UJ’s Student-Athlete of the Year at their sports gala awards function.
With an average of 77.90 per cent for her masters in fine art and winning the University Sport South Africa individual squash title for the third straight year, it’s easy to see why she was recognised for her academic achievement and sporting excellence. She joyfully expressed, “I regard it as one of the most prestigious awards I have ever received. It is extremely fulfilling to know that my hard work in squash, as well as the lecture halls, has not gone unnoticed.”
Her ability to maintain a strict focus on what she needs to fulfil is why she believes she has succeeded this year. “I do believe discipline has been the key. I try to keep a meticulous routine from day to day so that I am able to train the amount that I need to while keeping on track with my studies.”
Pienaar, who lives in Northcliff, reflected on the difficult task of balance here school work and sporting commitments – her evenings and weekends are spent with her books in hand. “It’s no easy task, I try to prioritise my time as well as I can by training twice a day, on average, and getting as much work done [as possible] in between.”
The 25-year-old’s life was made a bit more complicated this year by a desire to improve her world squash ranking. This involved a commitment to play in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) circuit in South Africa. “This is the first time I joined the PSA circuit and I played a total of nine satellite tournaments. So that took up a lot of my time, but I was able to achieve my goal of getting into the top 100 and am now ranked 98 in the world rankings.”
As her sporting and academic careers developed side by side, Pienaar said she had been assisted by various mentors at UJ. “I would have to say that my coach, Mike Bester, who has played a large role in the development of my squash.”
She also thanked her lecturers in the fine art department who have also been very supportive of her squash, despite the time it may have taken away from her studies.
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