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03 June 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Charl Devenish
Student Games
Four students from the University of the Free State were chosen for the South African Student team to the World Student Games in July 2019. They are from the left: Heinrich Willemse (tennis), Yolandi Stander (athletics), Ruben Kruger (tennis) and Tyler Beling (athletics).

Exactly half of the South African student tennis team to the World Student Games (3 to 14 July 2019 in Italy), together with one of the coaches and the team manager, hails from the University of the Free State (UFS).

Tennis players off to the games

The Kovsie tennis club has been richly rewarded for their dominance at student level when the national student team was chosen. They have won the University Sport South Africa (USSA) championship every year since 2010.

Ruben Kruger and Heinrich Willemse are two of the four team members, and UFS coach Marnus Kleinhans is one of the two coaches of the student team. Janine de Kock, team manager of the UFS, will also fulfil this role in the student team. 

Willemse and Kruger are currently the university’s number one and two players respectively and were members of the UFS team at last year’s USSA competition.

Two athletes also made the team. Tyler Beling will compete in the half-marathon and Yolandi Stander in the discus. They both won gold medals at the USSA championships in April 2019. Emmarie Fouché from KovsieSport is one of the athletics coaches. 

Tenoff to couch SA men’s team

Godfrey Tenoff, a sports manager at KovsieSport and head coach of the UFS men’s and female soccer teams, will coach the SA Students men’s team.

Two members of the swimming team are part of Kovsie Aquatics. Eben Vorster, who is studying overseas, swims for the UFS club when he is in South Africa. Marco Markgraaff, coach of the club, will act as the head coach of the SA student swimmers.

News Archive

First M degree in Sport Medicine commences at the UFS
2006-02-03

Some of the guests that attended the launch of the M degree in Sport Medicine were from the left Dr Derik Coetzee (senior lecturer at the UFS Department of Human Movement Science and one of the tutors of the programme); Dr Sorita Viljoen (a student from Bloemfontein); dr Stephan Pretorius (a student from Pretoria) ; Dr Louis Holtzhausen (Programme Director:  Sport Medicine at the UFS) and Prof Teuns Verschoor (Vice-Rector:  Academic Operations at the UFS).
Photo: Lacea Loader


First M degree in Sport Medicine commences at the UFS   
 

The classes of the first group of nine students registered for the M degree in Sport Medicine at the University of the Free State (UFS) commenced at the School of Medicine this week.

This is the first degree of its kind presented by the UFS.  Only two other universities in South Africa are presenting the course, namely the University of Cape Town and the University of Pretoria.

“It is an important new subject field for medicine in South Africa and is aimed at medical doctors,” said Dr Louis Holtzhausen, Programme Director of Sport Medicine in the School of Medicine and head of the UFS Sport and Exercise Medicine Clinic.

The course focuses on the wellness and healthy lifestyle of patients and also intercepts the growing need for a specialized medical service for sportsmen,” said Dr Holtzhausen.

Athletes’ needs for specialised medical care have increased dramatically during the past ten years.  “The primary health care practitioner has already surrendered a great deal of the athletics community to disciplines such as physiotherapy, bio kinetics, homeopathy, chirology and other alternative disciplines because of a lack to provide for these practitioners,” said Dr Holtzhausen.

“The course is especially in demand with general practitioners because they want to deliver a more specialized service to patients.  With this course a student can call him/herself a sport doctor and will then not only be able to present patients with scientifically funded exercise, food supplements and advice on their lifestyle, but will also be able to help with the rehabilitation of patients with chronic illnesses,” said Dr Holtzhausen.

“The greatest medical care expense in South African stems from lifestyle bound illnesses such as depression, strokes and obesesiveness.  The M degree in Sports Medicine at the UFS will intercept some of these problems,” said Dr Holtzhausen.

According to Dr Holtzhausen the duration of the degree is three years and it comprises of three legs.  In the first leg, attention is given to an athlete’s performance and how it can be improved with the correct methods and supplements.  In the second leg attention is given to the wellness of patients and the reversibility of the risk of illness and the exercise rehabilitation of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hart problems to assist patients to exercise in a scientific way in order for them to start living optimally again.  In the third leg attention is given to a healthier lifestyle as a precautionary measure. 

The course also includes a lecture part (four attendance sessions of seven days each) and a thesis.  

“The new course is important for the UFS as the whole tendency in medicine is to move into a direction of a more affordable precaution.  There is no other qualification or programme with as much detail as this course,” 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
3 February 2006

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