EDITORIAL
Video courtesy of the Roxy Davis Foundation. https:// www. instagram. com / p / Dc3WJOFtFFn /
Chatting to elite athletes in the so-called Cinderella sports, I often hear them suggest that a lack of funding and world-class facilities in South Africa has made them tougher. They’ re ready to deal with anything, whereas international athletes who have trained in ideal conditions may struggle when something unexpected happens or things get tough.
There’ s no denying that you’ d develop a certain toughness doing winter training in a pool that isn’ t properly heated because of loadshedding. And you’ d probably form a closer bond with your teammates if you had to bunk down together in a school hall during a hockey tournament because there wasn’ t money for a hotel. But I can’ t help wondering what our athletes could achieve if they didn’ t have to contend with these struggles in the first place.
The fact that South Africa produces so many world champions and top performers across multiple sports, often despite chronic underfunding and struggling national federations, is extraordinary. One such athlete I had the pleasure of interviewing this month is our cover star, Emihle Sombexe. What an impressive young man! He’ s worked incredibly hard to earn his place on the SA Para Surfing Team, but now financial constraints threaten to prevent him from competing at the World Championships in California. So I’ m appealing to Modern Athlete readers to rally behind Emihle and help him realise his dream of flying the SA flag on the international stage.
You can read all about his story on page 6, where you’ ll also find a BackaBuddy link to contribute towards his trip. The championships start on 19 November, so time is running out. I know that helping one athlete get to an international event won’ t change the structures of South African sport, but it could change one young man’ s life.
As always, we’ ve also got plenty of other stories to keep you inspired this month – from Pieter Coetzé’ s world record-breaking feats in the pool to Michelle and David George’ s exploits on the bike. Continuing our mission to bring you as many different sports as possible, we also introduce you to one of the country’ s top tug-of-war athletes, Kittie Terblanche.
Rory Petzer’ s always-hilarious column reveals how not running has actually improved his running. Sports nutritionist Candice De Mendonça explains why iron should be an important part of our diets, while the Rope Runner, Marissa Groenewald, shares a heartwarming tribute to the everyday unsung heroes in our lives.
There’ s plenty more – from meeting our latest paddling world champion to getting a glimpse of a new facility in Pietermaritzburg that bucks the trend of sub-standard training venues. It’ s a reminder that, with the right investment, a different scenario is possible.
So get stuck in and enjoy the read.
Until next month,
Karien Jonckheere karien @ modernathlete. co. za
4 www. modernathlete. co. za