How South Africa can produce world-beating athletes

Next year South Africa will host the world’s biggest sporting spectacle, the FIFA World Cup and it is quite obvious that if it were not for automatic qualification as the host nation, South Africa would be doubtful participants in next year’s finals. Since being readmitted into the international fold, South African football has failed to impress, save for the 1996 Africa Cup of Nation trophy. Having said this, a number of South African footballers have played successfully for clubs in some of the world’s best leagues. While the debate regarding poor sporting performance seems to be focused on football for now, South Africa seems to be struggling to be competitive globally in many other sporting disciplines. Tennis is a major global sport and while South Africa has produced fantastic individual players over the years, South Africa is hardly a tennis power-house, one only needs to reflect on South Africa’track record in the Davis Cup to see how poorly we have performed as a country in the game of tennis. Many other examples of poor national performance across different sporting codes can be listed. Perhaps South Africa can learn a few lessons from countries who have managed to succeed at being consistent winners on the sporting field. What I find interesting in looking at these successful countries, is that many excel at a few sporting codes. East African countries consistently produce winners in medium to long distance running. South American countries excel in ball sports such as football, volleyball and the like. The Caribbean nations excel in cricket and short distance running. Russia and the Asian countries such as China and Japan seem to excel in specialised swimming disciplines as well as gymnastics. East European countries excel in sport s such as weight-lifting. Western countries such as mainland Europe and the United State of America on the other hand seem to excel in a wider and more diverse variety of sporting codes and this could be large as result of an abundance of financial resources in these countries. Admittedly this is by no means an empirical analysis but a view based largely on common knowledge.

Prioritization and Specialization

The Ministry of Sport and Recreation (SRSA), in collaboration with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) need to consider a strategy which seeks to identify sporting codes of priority. These sporting codes would then receive special funding and concerted development effort with the aim of producing athletes who can win against the best in the world. One of the ways in which SRSA and SASCOC could arrive at a shot list of the priority sporting codes would be to closely examine those sports which already derive significant community interest such as football, basketball, rugby, cricket, road running etc. While the process of prioritization would ultimately lead to a type of specialization, I do not for one second suggest that other sporting codes be neglected but I am proposing that as a country we choose sporting codes in which success will be pursued without compromise but with a clear strategy on how to develop the necessary environment to excel in these chosen sports. This leads me to a point about creating a dedicated department within the SRSA that would deal with the implementation of priority sporting codes programme.


Priority Sporting Codes Programme

The simple aim of the priority sporting codes programme would be to produce world-beating athletes within these chosen sporting codes. The programme would therefore have to concern itself with the identification of coaches to help develop and train athletes in these priority sporting codes. The Programme would also work closely with the department of Education to ensure that these sports of priority receive necessary attention at school level so that raw talent is nurtured. Perhaps more importantly, the programme would provide funding for coaching and player development as well as the building and maintenance of relevant infrastructure. The infrastructure would incorporate what could ultimately serve as centres of excellence for the identified priority sporting codes. If South Africa is to produce winners on the sporting field, then SRSA needs to have a strategy aimed at changing the way we deal with sport as a society.