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Netball: Tanya ends seven illustrious years on a high

12 July 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Tania Allen

Although she did not quite reach her final goal in a Kovsie netball dress, being honoured one last time brought much peace to Tanya von Berg.

She was named in the Dream Team at the conclusion of the University Sport South Africa (USSA) tournament in Johannesburg and was thus recognised as the best centre at the competition.

According to the stalwart who played in her seventh year for the University of the Free State, her goal was to make this team and lift the trophy. The team didn’t succeed in the latter, losing to the North-West University in the semi-final.

Heading abroad
“Knowing that it would be the last time I would be playing for the team, I set myself these two goals. Although we were not able to claim the title, at least making the Dream Team helped to make me feel that I finished on a high, giving my all one last time,” she said.

Von Berg, who is doing her honours in Education this year, received a teaching post in Qatar, where she will start in August.

Remarkably this versatile player, who could play any one of four positions, only missed two matches in the two student competitions since making her debut as a first-year student in 2013. This was due to national commitments in 2016 (playing for South Africa A) and her honeymoon last year.

Standout moments
“Being named for the Protea training squad in 2016 and being selected for the national Fast5 team later that year, was the two outstanding moments of my career.”
“What I remember about my first year, was how huge it was to play with the seniors. The one player who served as my biggest inspiration, was Isélma Parkin. She didn’t receive the recognition she deserved. I learned from her to continue to work hard and to never give up.”

News Archive

Official opening: UFS earmarks R10-million to support national priorities

2006-02-06

The University of the Free State (UFS) is to align key areas of its academic and research efforts with national priorities through the introduction of five strategic clusters which would be funded by seedmoney of R10-million in 2006.

Speaking at the Official Opening of the UFS on Friday (3 February 2006), the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Frederick Fourie, said the academic and research work that will be done in the five strategic clusters would contribute to the development of Mangaung, the Free State, South Africa and Africa.

“It makes sense to concentrate the university’s human resources, our infrastructure, financial resources and intellectual expertise to ensure that the UFS makes a contribution to the country and the African continent,” Prof Fourie said.

“Strategic clusters will be organised on the basis that these areas of knowledge could become in the short term the flagships of the UFS, meaning those areas where the university currently has or in the very near future is likely to have some competitive advantage,” Prof Fourie said.

According to Prof Fourie, this strategic-cluster approach will be in line with the approach being designed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) to take national priorities into account and would enhance the quality of scholarship at the UFS.

The five strategic areas in which research and academic investment at the UFS will be clustered are the following:

Enabling technologies / Technology for the future;
Food production, quality and food security for Africa;
Development;
Social transformation;
Water resource and ecosystem management;

“Such strategic clusters are understood not only as research areas but as areas that also encompass strong undergraduate and particularly postgraduate teaching and a potentially solid scientific basis for service learning and community service research,” Prof Fourie said.

Within each of these clusters specific niche areas will be identified. Clusters could focus on one or more aspects of a particular discipline or could involve more than one discipline in researching a particular issue.

He said not all academic work and research being done at the UFS would be clustered in this way. Sufficient resources and support have been put in place for general research excellence in the past five years.

“Some of the spin-offs can have an important impact on industrial development, for example in the chemicals industry and may also create a basis for cooperation with provincial, national and international partners,” he said.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
5 February 2006

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