Dept to back all school sport

LIMPOPO – LIMPOPO department of sport, arts and culture general manager, Kgathane Choshane, says the province is impressed by the swimming team that collected 50 medals in the national school sport championships last year.

According to Chosane, learners in rural areas who have an interest in swimming still experienced a lack of resources.

She admitted that the municipal swimming pools were expensive to use and there was a shortage of water and a lack of instructors at the pools.

“The province still beat the odds last year, regardless of the limited resources by collecting 13 gold, 15 silver and 22 bronze medals.

“Last year, the department, in collaboration with the department of basic education, ensured all schools registered for the school sports programme take part in 18 prioritised sporting codes such as football, netball, rugby, athletics, basketball, chess, volleyball, cricket, softball, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, table tennis, hockey, kgati, juskei, morabaraba and khokho. This year, we are adding goal ball and ncuva.

“The province obtained 75 medals this year, a massive improvement from the 53 medals we received in 2013.

“The school sports programme is an integral part of sport development. Since the launch of this programme, Limpopo was represented in all the national school sport championships in 2012 in Pretoria, 2013 in Bloemfontein and 2014 in Pretoria. The school sports programme is implemented in collaboration with the department of education in the province. The leagues expose learners to a variety of sporting codes. They also create opportunities within which development and nurturing of identified talent in various sporting codes can take place. Through leagues, vibrant school sporting code structures are created which are effectively and properly managed,” she said.

“In the talent identification programme, two learners who performed well in netball and football were awarded with bursaries worth R100 000 annually.

“To participate in the 2015 school sports programme, the department has set aside an amount of R2,5 million for the district sport competitions.

“Along with R1,4 million for provincial competitions and another R10 million for delivering the Limpopo school sports team to the national championships,” she said.

“A total of 36 schools have been identified as focus schools in sport and will be supported with equipment, attire and capacity building programmes. These schools will be used to place learners that have been identified for outstanding performance in this programme,” she said.

“The school sports leagues at circuit level and cluster level have started in all sporting codes and most of the clusters have completed their leagues.

“The implementation of the circuit and the cluster leagues is the responsibility of the department of education, while the department of sport is in charge of the district, provincial and national championships . The top schools that have won at cluster level will represent their districts on scheduled dates,” she said.

“The department is targeting 11 400 learners to participate in the district school league championships. A total amount of 2 055 out of 3 950 schools have registered to participate in the school sports leagues. From the districts, the winning schools will move to the provincial school sports championships which will be staged at Polokwane and Seshego playing fields.

“The national school sport championships will be staged from 10 to 16 December 2015 in Pretoria to determine the winning province. The Limpopo provincial school sports team will also be represented in all 18 sporting codes.

“To ensure the province prepares properly for the national championships, the department has put aside the following budget allocations for team pre-parations: accommodation, meals, transport, equipment, attire and communications.

“The allocation for the school sports programme for the district, provincial and national championships is not sufficient to help all schools, which is the objective of the department to witness school sport deep-rooted in schools as school sport is the bedrock of sports development.”