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15 September 2021 | Story Jóhann Thormählen | Photo Charl Devenish
The University of the Free State (UFS) netball team was honoured by UFS management at a special celebration. The side won a fourth Varsity Netball title and the UFS has now been champion in 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2021.

Set goals for yourself, commit to it, and give everything to achieve them.

According to Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), this is what the UFS netball team did and why it is an example for the Kovsie community.

He celebrated the team’s achievement of winning Varsity Netball for a record fourth time and extending the run of the UFS as the most successful team in the tournament.

The Kovsies convincingly beat Maties 55-39 in the final to be crowned champions. It was the biggest victory margin in a final, and they did it after losing to Maties (46-54) in the first round.

Prof Petersen and his management group honoured Burta de Kock, the UFS Head Coach, and her team during a special celebration on 13 September 2021.

Working as an outfit

He said the side’s determination is a lesson to others.

“Once you have decided that these are my objectives and you commit yourself to achieving them, that is all you focus on.”

“It will always be possible if you put everything in and you showed it. Thank you for doing this.”

He praised the team for building the UFS brand. 

“You really work as an outfit. What I saw of the players was a right attitude when they play the game.”

Everything made easy

Sikholiwe (Sne) Mdletshe, the UFS captain, thanked her team’s management, the UFS, and its lecturers.

“We really want to thank the university for putting so much into us. It gives us a lot of resources.

“Some tests had to be written while we were in the bubble and our lecturers made that easy for us.”

She said the players never take the effort for granted. “The UFS makes everything easy to go out there and play netball – the sport we have been playing since we were little kids.”

DB Prinsloo, Director of KovsieSport, is immensely proud of the team.

“We even lost one of our best players in the first match, Chanel Vrey, due to injury. We have to take off our hats to the Kovsie netball team.”


News Archive

South Africans can be first movers
2014-04-29

 
Dr Liz Lange, Prof Hussein Solomon, Minister Naledi Pandor and Prof Nicky Morgan
Photo: Johan Roux
Minister of Home Affairs, Naledi Pandor, recently addressed staff, students and members of the community at the CR Swart Auditorium, UFS.

During a public lecture hosted by the Department of Political Studies and Governance, in collaboration with the Free State Legislature, Pandor spoke about The Role of Intellectuals and Academics in moving South Africa forward. She challenged young minds to become the innovative game changers of tomorrow and stressed the importance of tertiary education and its impact on national developments.

“Our country and the world need large quantities of undergraduate institutions,” said Pandor. “We need new innovative partnerships. Private sector research and public sector research need to be married. And we as government should promote private sector development.”

Referring to the breakthrough for South Africa on Africa Day 2012, Pandor made it clear that South Africans have the potential to be first movers, although it has not always been the case. It was announced on Africa Day 2012 that Africa had been named as the preferred site for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope (http://www.ska.ac.za/releases/20120525.php). This undertaking contributed immensely in fuelling the interest in science and technology among South Africans.

“We cannot rely on the same things always. We as South Africans are not usually the first movers. We tend to adopt innovations from elsewhere. But, we need to do more to initiate innovative start-ups … especially in the fields of IT and high-tech innovations.”

Conclusively, this leads to the question of whether we as South African are doing enough to further build a new generation of intellectuals?

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