Jaaroorsig - University of the Free State

Sport Centrewill helpUFS to playbigger role innational sport.Ms Nomsa Mahlangu attended a socceradministration and coaching course inBrazil as part of a South African delegation.She was also appointed on theWomen’s Football Standing Committeefor the next four years.Several staff members of KovsieHealth were involved in sporting activitiesat provincial and national level.Dr Louis Holtzhausen, Director ofKovsie Health, was team doctor of theCats Super 12 rugby team and the SouthAfrican A rugby team. Mr JacquesNienaber was team physiotherapist of theCats and the South African A rugby team,as well as conditioning coach of theCheetahs. Ms Nilo Terblanche was theteam physiotherapist of the Lynx netballteam.Dr Holtzhausen was a facilitator at thefirst SA Rugby Medical and ScientificConsensus Conference, where the aimwas to reach consensus on the handling ofburn-out among professional rugby players.During the conference he acted asspokesperson for the team doctors of professionalrugby teams.such as soccer, hockey, netball and tennis.In unfolding its national sports plan, theMinistry of Sport and Recreation hasalready identified CESSS as the high-performancetesting centre for the nationalbasketball teams, whilst the national boxingteams are also earmarked to be trainedat the UFS.The CESSS will act as a centralisedbody that is responsible for the co-ordinationand management of joint initiativesbetween professional service providers,research projects and KovsieSport. Thecentre will also co-ordinate and managejoint initiatives between various academicprogrammes in different academic subjectfields such as sports medicine, biokinetics,physiotherapy and dietetics.Sports Plan appointed Mr CharlesStore, previously employed at the SportsScience Institute in Cape Town and by theSA National Defence Force at 3 MilitaryHospital, Bloemfontein, as manager.CESSS was founded in 2003 and was initiallymanaged by Dr Louis Holtzhausen(Kovsie Health) and a consultant, Dr GaryVorster.Sports Plan tomanage centreThe university has officially appointedSports Plan (Pty) Ltd to manage its Centrefor Exercise and Sport Science Services(CESSS) on the Bloemfontein campus. InOctober Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Academic Operations and MrMorne du Plessis, Managing Director ofSports Plan and former Springbok rugbycaptain, signed a contract formalising theappointment.This was another step in the implementationof the UFS’s wide-rangingsport strategy to improve sport facilitiesand elevate formerly marginalised sportsAlliances withregional bodiesVarious sports codes of the Universityhave established alliances and cooperativeagreements with other sporting bodiesin the region to boost the overall developmentof sport.In its quest for excellence KovsieSportdeemed it of critical importance to re-visitand formalise its relationship with theFree State Rugby Union. An informalpartnership has existed for several years,which led to the establishment of theCheetah Rugby Centre of Excellence. Themain objective of this rugby academy is toproduce quality players, officials, admin-66