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03 May 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Zimbio
Simoné Gouws
Simoné Gouws (right) in action for the Protea hockey team last year. The defender will be a key player for the Kovsie team in the Varsity hockey competition.

The coach of the first women’s hockey team of the University of the Free State is confident that they can do well in the upcoming Varsity hockey tournament.

The competition works on a gender-rotation system every year. This will be the fourth term of Varsity hockey for women. The Kovsie women has a good record. In 2013 they ended fourth, in 2015 they were second, and in 2017 fifth.

The Kovsies will be facing the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Friday 3 May 2019. On Saturday, the Maties is lying in wait and the North-West University on Sunday.

“I am confident that we will be doing well. If each player plays her role very well, we should reach the semi-final stage. We have put in the hard work, with good progress. We have played three matches so far in 2019 and haven’t been on the losing side yet,” said Luke Makeleni, head coach.

In friendlies last month, the Kovsies drew to NWU (0-0), defeated UJ by 3-1, and had a good win (6-0) against the Johannesburg club, Shumbas.

“We have quite an experienced squad, with seven survivors from the previous Varsity hockey competition (in 2017), so they know what is expected,” Makeleni said. He is in his third year of coaching the women.

The Kovsies have several players with national experience. Simoné Gouws made her debut for the Proteas last year. Casey-Jean Botha, Shindré-Lee Simmons, Antonet Louw, and Lizanne Jacobs have all represented the South African U21 team. Botha is also in the Protea squad. 

■ The Kovsie team: Wiané Grobler, Chane Hartel, Mikayla Claassen, Anke Badenhorst, Casey-Jean Botha, Shindré-Lee Simmons, Esté van Schalkwyk, Nadia van Staden, Antonet Louw, Michelle Ngoetjane, Heraldine Olin, Lizanne Jacobs, Refilwe Ralikontsane, Mielanka van Schalkwyk, Nela Mbedu, Simoné Gouws, Frances Louw, Kia-Leigh Erasmus.

News Archive

First Beyers Naudé lecture held at UFS' Qwaqwa Campus
2011-03-15

Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), delivered the first lecture to celebrate Dr Beyers Naudé’s life and legacy in a series of public lectures at the UFS’ Qwaqwa Campus.

In his address, Prof. Jansen warned that South Africa cannot afford a genocide of which the seeds are sown by those who continue to use racist and derogatory terms against their fellow citizens.
 
“The present debate in the media that was started by Jimmy Manyi’s comments and subsequently followed by the column by Kuli Roberts in the Sunday World about what they called ‘coloureds’ in the Western Cape, is not a ‘coloured’ debate. It is a South African debate and the silence from certain quarters of our society is disturbing,” said Prof. Jansen.
 
He pointed out that all countries that had previously experienced genocide had started in the same way when “those who were in power chose to keep quiet when wrong and dangerous statements were being uttered”.
 
“This country needs courageous citizens and leaders like ‘Oom Bey’ who sacrificed all the privileges and opportunities of being an Afrikaner in apartheid South Africa. He courageously stood up against his own people by declaring apartheid as evil and un-Christian. That’s the consciousness that all Kovsie students and the entire community must strive for.
 
We want Kovsie graduates who are also graduates of life. We want Kovsie graduates who will have the conscience to question wrong-doing, irrespective of who did it, and irrespective of where wrong-doing is being done. That’s the Kovsies we will all be proud of,” Prof. Jansen concluded. 
 
The lecture was preceded by a student debate on the theme and was the first of the four in the 8th annual Beyers Naudé Memorial Lecture Series themed Conscience and courage in the struggle for justice. The second lecture will be presented by Prof. Kwandile Kondlo, who heads the UFS’ Centre for African Studies, on 28 April 2011, and the main event is scheduled for 9 September 2011.
 
 
Media Release
14 March 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za
 

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