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Nomsa overcame obstacle to reach football heights

15 March 2023 | Story Jóhann Thormählen | Photo Supplied

Nomsa Mathontsi senior member of the University of the Free State (UFS) Women’s Football team has, despite enormous challenges excelled and achieved remarkable heights on and off the field.

Ms Mathontsi has been an avid sportsperson from an early age. Among her many extraordinary achievements the talented Ms Mathontsi has also been on the South African Women’s National Soccer squad Banyana Banyana.

What many may not know though, is that this is notwithstanding the obstacle Ms Mathontsi overcame in order to reach such heights. The Kovsie striker has limited hearing in her right ear and received a cochlear implant before she began her UFS journey in 2018.

I got affected when I was really young. I was doing athletics. This one time I had a very hectic race, which blocked my right ear –

At the University of the Free State Kovsie Health takes into account the medical history of its’ high-performance athletes who are closely monitored with the aim of achieving optimal performance. As in the case of Ms Mathonsi it is most important that the medical practitioner, Dr Gerhard Jansen, and his team at Kovsie Health take into consideration her medical history.

Kovsie Health provides a range of services to the UFS football programme that include: medical screenings; injury diagnosis; treatment; and rehabilitation.

Compulsory medicals

“I got affected when I was really young. I was doing athletics. This one time I had a very hectic race, which blocked my right ear.

“At first my family thought it was going to be OK, until we realised it was extremely serious and we had to do medicals,” the versatile player says.

Ms Mathontsi, a BAdmin student in Economic and Management Sciences has an implant in her skull but cannot play with her hearing device.

“Even the implant itself can be dangerous. If someone hits me with an elbow or something hard or (on the) head, it will hurt.”

It is compulsory for all UFS football players to take the South African Football Association medicals. Kovsie Health assists players in this process. This is conducted before each new season and include a basic medical, family and practice history, basis line tests, injury assessments etc.

According to Jansen, Kovsie Health needs to be aware of Mathontsi’s medical history so that they may make informed decisions and provide guidance. We will document it and if she should get concussion you will have to take it into account. We for instance know we shouldn’t see a loss of hearing as a negative sign.”

Special Kovsie football family

Mathontsi has represented the UFS in two Varsity Football campaigns, three USSA tournaments and plays in the Free State Sasol League.

Although she hasn’t made her international debut, she received two call-ups to the South African women’s squad and trained with Banyana Banyana.

The number 8 loves her UFS football family and says she has also learnt to balance sport and university.

“I think it is the bond and relationships we have with each other on and off the field that makes it special.

“I have learnt a lot in terms of leadership and how to take leadership as a senior player in the team.”

News Archive

UFS arts are experiencing a boom

2013-09-03

Dot Vermeulen
3 September 2013

The arts at the University of the Free State are experiencing a boom, with several Kovsie artists achieving on a national platform. Dot Vermeulen, a junior lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts, is the latest UFS artist to be honoured nationally as the winner of the 2013 Sasol New Signatures art award.

The award is rewarding emerging young artists. The winning entry, entitled “Desperately disciplined,” by Vermeulen, who is currently studying toward her master’s degree in Visual Arts, was chosen from approximately 400 entries.

Earlier this year, Pauline Gutter, a former Kovsie, won the Absa L’Atelier competition, which is South Africa’s most prestigious art competition. The year before, another former student from our Department of Fine Arts, Elrie Joubert, won the competition.

Vermeulen says there are brilliant people at the UFS who are active in visual arts at various levels. "People such as Janine Allen-Spies (lecturer in painting) and Angela de Jesus (curator of the Stegmann gallery) are not only good artists, they are also involved with the community and invest a great deal of energy into the development of young artists. From my own experience, I can say that I have benefited a lot from academic scholarships from the UFS in the course of my study career."

She says her winning entry refers to the relationship between traditional tactile painting and contemporary digital media. "The focus is especially on hidden moments of absorption and correspondence during the art-making process. The painting installation depicts a reading nude figure on a couch. A computer screen is mounted on a stand in front of the painting, animating the same image, while at the same time blocking the view of the painting. In the animation, the nude figure pages through her book from time to time, with the paint and digital drawing marks moving around her. The text “Envoi is typing…” is also animated on the surface of the couch repeatedly. It is suggestive of internet chat boxes, which often pop up on the screen while I am working on my laptop."

As winner of the Sasol New Signatures art award, Vermeulen won R60 000 and the opportunity of a solo art exhibition in the Pretoria Art Museum.

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