Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Blood, sweat, and cheers: a Shimla triumph

24 April 2024 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Francois van Vuuren

Varsity Cup 2024 — The FNB UFS Shimlas are the winners of the 2024 FNB Varsity Cup.

The FNB UFS Shimlas are the winners of the 2024 FNB Varsity Cup. This comes after a 45-42 victory over the FNB UCT Ikeys in the final, which took place on 21 April 2024 at Shimla Park. “It was one of the best matches I have been involved in as a coach; both teams played unbelievable rugby and we are just so pleased to get this great result,” said Andre Tredoux, Head Coach of the FNB UFS Shimlas.

The last time the Shimlas won the title was in 2015. As such, Tredoux indicates that the team is thankful to bring the trophy home. Prof Francis Petersen – Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Free State (UFS) – was also in attendance at the final. In his congratulatory message, Prof Petersen described the match as a fantastic scene. “The team represented the University of the Free State; they represented one of our key values, which is excellence, but they also showed that sport – in this case rugby – has a social cohesion value,” he said.

The battle for the championship

Tredoux indicates that the match was a tough one, especially when the score stood at 14-0 and 31-19 against the Shimlas. He says the team had to dig deep to find its footing in the game again, considering that they were behind so early in the game. As such, he highlights, “It was a huge effort to get back into the game and keep playing as a team. We really focused on staying in the fight and being connected, as we knew Ikeys would tire in the later stage of the game.”

Subsequent to this monumental victory, he describes the team as having the ‘hearts of champions’ and credits their love and enthusiasm for the game as part of the reason for their success. In fact, one person who exemplifies this is the Shimla scrumhalf Jandre Nel, who was named the FNB Player that Rocks.

Furthermore, Tredoux thanks the UFS community for showing up in their numbers at the game. He also commends his team for working towards this victory, including “Inus Keyser, Mark Nichols, and Edith Maritz – our physiotherapist – for keeping the team healthy, as well as assistant coaches Melusi Mthethwa and Tiaan Liebenberg, and Jerry Laka, Director of Kovsie Sport at the UFS”.

Watch the highlights below:

News Archive

Kovsies perform well at South African Netball Championships

2010-04-30

Kovsies in the Free State u.19 and u.21 teams who performed excellently at the recent South African Netball Championships. Here are, from the left: Fikile Mkhuzangwe, best defender, Monique Lemon, best centre court, Anja Opperman, best goal shooter and Karla Mostert, overall best player at the South African Netball Championships.
Photo: Gerhard Louw

Karla Mostert, a student at the University of the Free State (UFS), was named as the best player of the tournament at the recent South African Netball Championships that was held in Richards Bay.

At the tournament top players in each position were also identified. The best goal shooter was a Kovsie Anja Opperman. Other Kovsies included the following: Monique Lemon was named as the best centre-court player and Fikile Mkhuzangwe as the best goal keeper.

The Free State’s u.19 and u.21 netball teams that participated in the tournament entirely comprised of Kovsies. Ms Burta de Kock, Assistant Director at the UFS’s KovieSport, is very proud of the Kovsies netball players’ achievements.

Not only did they reach four of the top positions, but they also won each of the ten matches in the round robin, which took them through to the finals. Both teams brought gold home in the finals when Free State u.19 beat Gauteng East 35-25 and Free State u.21 beat North-West South 37-23.

The Kovsies students performed even better when Fikile Mkhuzangwe, Carmen Swanepoel, Ane Botha, Lauren-Lee Christians, Monique Lemon and Nieke Loubser were named amongst the top 20 players in the u.19 age group. In the U/21 age group, four of the 20 top players were Kovsies, namely Anja Opperman, Anja Zandberg, Karla Mostert and Mari-lise Linde.

“Three of our players also qualified as national umpires: Lizahn Zimmerman (Netball SA, C grading), Mari-Lise Linde (Netball SA, C-plus grading) and Johanet Coetzer (Netball SA, C+ grading),” says Ms De Kock.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept