Sport
11
13 May ‘13
Exclusive interview with Tuks bodybuilder MOKGETHI NKOSI TuksBodybuilding was officially established in 2011 and gave aspiring bodybuilders a platform to realise their goals. The club has produced several prominent bodybuilders over a short period of time, including Gert Coertze, Roelof Coertze, Bhekumuzi Maluleka and Braam Smith. They have all competed in the South African championships hosted by the International Federation for Bodybuilding and Fitness. Maluleka spoke to Perdeby about the club. How did TuksBodybuilding come about? A couple of guys from the Tuks student gym [including] Burton Morgan came up with an idea to start the club. [Morgan] was already in the field with Roelof Coertze and Braam Smith, who are still students here at Tuks. In 2011, the club officially started and in the same year we competed in the South African Championships. What are some of the challenges facing the club? Funding is one of our greatest challenges. Last year, I went to the world championships but I struggled to get funding. TuksBodybuilding managed to contribute. Because we are students, we struggle to find common schedules [for training]. Lastly, students sign up and join the club but then leave [shortly afterwards]. What are the club’s goals this year? Our goal this year is to do well in the national championships. We are also looking
at diversifying the club and ensuring that more females join. We are looking at raising more funds. Has there been any growth in bodybuilding in South Africa? In the 1980s, bodybuilding was big in South Africa. The country even hosted Mr Universe and Mr Olympia [bodybuilding tournaments] but during the [last] ten years the sport has been clouded with steroids and illegal substances and less attention has been given to bodybuilding. Major companies withdrew their sponsorships. Do you feel women are well represented in TuksBodybuilding? We do not have any female bodybuilders. The sport is associated with men, but within bodybuilding there are different categories which females can compete in, for example fitness and modelling fitness. We are calling on females to join the club as they will add more value to how the club views fitness training. Why did you become a bodybuilder? My love for bodybuilding started when I got a left-knee injury from football. During rehabilitation I started going to gym and I noticed that, when it comes to your body, results are much more controlled than in team sports. The more effort I put in, the more it reflected on my body. What is your inspiration? Bodybuilding is not just a sport. It is a sport that requires mental discipline, commitment and focus. I can apply these aspects to different areas of my life.
Photo: Paul dos Santos
TuksBasketball begins Gauteng University League campaign
GABRIELLA FERREIRA AND BRIAN KIAUTHA The TuksBasketball second team beat the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) second team 66-55 last Thursday night. Kevin Mbela opened the scoring for Tuks and scored 22 points in the whole game. Tuks led 27-17 going into half time. During the third
quarter, TUT were able to narrow the deficit to 30-27, but Tuks managed to stretch the lead to 46-33 by the end of the third quarter before extending their lead in the last quarter. TuksBasketball is currently participating in the Gauteng University Basketball League. The competition forms part of the qualifying rounds for the University Sport South Africa (USSA) tournament. It will see the province’s top-ranked university squads play against each other. Matches will take place every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday of May and will be hosted by the various universities in Gauteng. The top three teams of each provincial league will progress to the USSA tournament, which will determine which university will be ranked first in basketball in the country. Results from Tuks’s previous fixtures in the competition include a 33-13 win for Tuks 1 women against University of Johannesburg (UJ) Galaxy, a 65-70 loss to Vaal University of Technology for Tuks 1 men and a 70-56 win over UJ for Tuks 2 men. Tuks’s next fixture will see them play TUT again on Thursday 16 May. Students have been encouraged to come and watch Tuks play provincial rivals, the University of Witwatersrand and UJ Galaxy, on Sunday 19 May, when the University of Pretoria will host the competition. Photo: Ilana van Heerden
AmaTuks reach out to local communities
MOKGETHI NKOSI AmaTuks hosted a football clinic at the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi campus on 6 May. The AmaTuks players coached boys participating in the TuksFootball development programme. The Mamelodi satellite programme started in 2011 to provide the boys with professional assistance and mentorship. It is open to boys between the ages of 12 and 17 from Mamelodi. A hundred young boys attended the clinic, led by AmaTuks fitness trainer Sibusiso Mahlangu. The clinic focused on fitness training, effective warm-up excises and goalkeeping techniques. AmaTuks media officer
Khathochelo Mbanda told Perdeby that the aim of the clinic was to ensure the transfer of professional skills from TuksFootball club to the development programme. Mbanda said that the boys were excited to be able to meet and interact with their favourite football stars. TuksFootball also has a development programme running at the university’s sport campus. More than 300 boys participate in this programme, which has produced notable players such as Thokozani Sekotlong and Aubrey Ngoma. The programme assists participants with their studies and helps them enrol at the University of Pretoria after they matriculate. TuksFootball is looking to expand its programme into Soshanguve.
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