22 August 2022
|
Story Lunga Luthuli
|
Photo Supplied
Hosting the annual intravarsity tournament on the University of the Free State
South Campus on 13 August 2022, KovsieSport hoped to increase interest and participation in a variety of sporting codes, and to expose the campus to high-performance programmes.
Godfrey Tenoff, Chief Sports Officer at
KovsieSport, believes hosting the tournament on all three campuses is also an “opportunity to select and identify potential talent and to mark their development from one competition to the next, and to see athletes competing in their ‘home and away’ environments”.
The eighth edition of the tournament, which is hosted rotationally on all three campuses, had students participating in five different sporting codes – netball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, and chess.
Tenoff said: “The format for this year’s competition was a round robin for all the team sports and a knockout competition was played for chess. Having the tournament on the South Campus was a great idea, as it is a jewel for sports – not only for student integration, but also for community integration.”
He said: “The interest in sports in the community can also be activated by the South Campus activities that integrate high schools around the campus. This is only a potential avenue and not a planned investment as yet.”
Tenoff believes that what made this year’s tournament successful, is the “interest of students developed through sport, the leadership of KovsieSport South Campus, and the Bloemfontein Campus Local Organising Committee (LOC) who were there to assist”.
He said: “The tournament will develop further and become a real spectacle. The LOC will make improvements and sport managers will add processes and leagues on the South Campus to help organise these talents and continue the development of this growth potential.”
Tenoff said, “It is important for students to continue participating, as it is an opportunity to constructively de-stress through recreational activities, and to build relationships and camaraderie.”
He said: “The tournament also serves as an opportunity for talented players to be scouted into USSA and Varsity Sports teams and other sporting codes. It also allows both staff and organisers the opportunity to host fellow colleagues and their students, providing a rich student and staff experience, which is one of the goals of student services across all three campuses.”
This year’s eventual winners were:
Netball – Bloemfontein Campus
Soccer women – Bloemfontein Campus
Basketball men – Bloemfontein Campus
Basketball women – Bloemfontein Campus
Volleybal men – Qwaqwa Campus
Chess – Bloemfontein Campus the overall winners