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24 September 2024
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Story Aimée Barlow
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Photo Supplied
Louzanne Coetzee, who made history by clinching South Africa’s second medal at the Paralympics, earning a bronze in the T11 1 500 m women’s final with a personal best time, received a warm reception when she recently returned home.
The celebrated Paralympic bronze medallist Louzanne Coetzee returned home to a warm welcome at the Bram Fischer International Airport on 10 September 2024.
Family, friends, colleagues, Arista students, and media gathered to celebrate her remarkable achievement and show their support.
Coetzee – KovsieSport Coordinator of Parasport at the University of the Free State (UFS) – made history by clinching South Africa’s second medal at the Paralympics, earning a bronze in the T11 1 500 m women’s final with a personal best time. Her dedication and hard work have not only brought her personal glory but have also inspired many in her community.
Among those present to welcome her was Jerry Laka, Director of KovsieSport, who expressed his pride in Coetzee’s accomplishments.
"We as KovsieSport are so proud of our colleague Coetzee. It is amazing to see a product of KovsieSport achieving greatness on the world stage. She is truly an inspiration to us all," said Laka.
“I am so glad to be back, and to have Laka and my colleagues here. It means the world to me. Having Laka here shows his commitment to my career and ParaSport and his staff in general,” shared Coetzee, her gratitude evident.
She further expressed her appreciation for the support she received, stating, “I don’t have the words to describe how thankful I am for the support from the UFS community.”
Coetzee’s return is a proud moment for South Africa and the University of the Free State (UFS) community. Welcome home, Louzanne! Your achievements have made us all proud!
Justin J. Kennedy leads new Programme in Personal Excellence
2012-05-08
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Justin J. Kennedy
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar
8 May 2012
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Justin J. Kennedy has been appointed as the Manager of the new Programme in Personal Excellence. The programme is hosted in the Centre for Business Dynamics, the commercial unit of the Business School.
He studied at Rhodes University and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and his research has been published in various health-related publications. His D.Psych. at the University of California migrated into a Ph.D. with research partner DiscoveryHealth.
While in New York, he was part of the research laboratory Helicor that developed the world’s first hand-held medical device for measuring heart-rate variability of the peripheral nervous system. This device forms part of the programmes offered to control stress and improve cognitive performance as per clinical trials at the UCT Department of Human Biology. This programme evolved into developing the M.Sc. course work on occupational stress and Ph.D. student supervision.
The programme will launch during the university's Beneficiary Programme for Academic Heads of Department, and will focus on the neuro-economics of stress resilience.
Justin’s most recent research is peer review for an international leadership journal where he has presented evidence on how people can improve their cognitive performance and working memory by building functional stress resilience. The overall aim of the programme is to not only reduce stress, but to improve ability to be excellent at work. Clinical results have shown it is beneficial for performance anxiety, insomnia, migraine, hypertension control and improved ability at cognitive tasks. The aim of his work is to ensure that simple and practical skills provide academics, students and corporate participants with enduring, functional techniques that are easily applied in their working lives.
The programme has three roles: to offer services that equip students and academics; consulting services to corporate clients, financial groups and private hospitals; and publication of results in peer-reviewed journals.
This initiative also envisages offering a postgraduate qualification and selected coaching qualifications. For more info about corporate interventions and programmes open to students and academics, please contact Ansie Barnard at barnardam@ufs.ac.za.