Then and now an ex athletes perspective

1
Then and now an (ex) athletes perspective
2
Personal career thenCanoeing

• SA canoeing team 1981-1989
• 1st time 19 years old, retired 27 years old
• Won most races in SA
• Won longest 1 stage race 205km non-stop with Tim
  Cornish in 17h20min (UK)
• Hold record for second longest race in the world
  on the Murray river in Australia (1988)
• 2nd in longest race in the word in Sweden/Finland
• Won Sella in Spain biggest number of entries in
  the world
• Won all SA events in all distances at least once
  (500m sprint 120km marathon)

3
Support during career

• Parents
• International Tours plane tickets by federation
  (SACF)
• Minor equipment sponsor
• Studied while doing sport (UP sports bursary)
• Trained very hard no expert coaching
• Observation during my time pockets of
  excellence naturally develop where two or three
  very good athletes train together and where there
  is a good coach.
• International achievements are quite
  meaningless in current context
• Non Olympic events and distances
• Did not compete once internationally in Olympic
  division Sprint Canoeing

4
Current involvement

• Sport psychologist
• Manager of SA canoeing team
• Mentor for Macsteel Maestros (athlete development
  programme)

5
From 1992 2007?

• At 1992 Olympics SA team struggled to make
  semi-finals. Best SA times 150 for 500m and 350
  for 1000m
• 1995 2000 good improvement, 145 for 500m and
  340 for 1000m
• 2007 Qualified 10 paddlers for Beijing. Times
  1.38 for 500m and 328 for 1000m
• Regular A finals at World cups and World Champs
• Medal at World cup 2007

6
Canoeing SA times improvement in 1000m from 1992
- 2007
Getting back into international sprint Canoeing
3 40 psychological barrier
Michael Mbanjwa 341 1000m
Michael Mbanjwa wins Duzi 2008
1992 struggled to make semi-finals We cant
compete they are on drugs
2004 Olympics 1 paddler qualified
10 paddlers qualified for Beijing
Shaun Rubenstein 328 1000m 2007
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What made the difference?1992 2007/8

• Mind-shift from SA context to international
  context
• Self belief we cant compete they are on drugs
  to we can be up there with the best
• Specialised training and focus (7 years sprint
  now compared to 6 weeks sprints then)
• Expert coaching (Nandor Almasi since 1992)
• Access and exposure to sport sciences (strength
  and conditioning, dietician, psychologist etc)
• Financial back-up (Shaun Rubenstein vs Michael
  Mbanjwa)

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What can province do?Critical issues some
suggestions

• Projects
• Support natural pockets of excellence (e.g.
  Benoni)
• Adopt/support existing projects (e.g. Soweto
  canoe and recreation club)
• Infrastructure
• Maintain and provide access to training
  facilities invest in fixed assets
• Water problem Roodeplaat hyacinths, access to
  and security of dams and river pollution
• Identify open spaces and convert to basic
  sporting facilities

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What can the province do?

• Services
• Access to scientific services
• Sponsor sport scientific research (e.g. ISR _at_ UP)
• Facilitate cooperation between academic/scientific
  institutions, federations and athletes
• People
• Invest in coaches
• Elevate status of coaches change culture of
  scapegoating coaches. Coaching is/should be much
  more than being a technical expert
• Assist with upgrading skills -Clinics and
  training
• Hero-ize achievers (e.g. Michael Mbanjwa,
  Duncan Mahlangu etc)
• Adopt an athlete to act as provincial ambassadors
  for sport

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Things that have been bothering me

• Why are there so little support for and so few
  black women in sport?
• How do we deal with the problem of pressure on
  young male athletes to support their families?