Learners Gear Up for Athletics Championships
Kimberley – Schools athletics forms the basis of schools’ sport as almost all schools take part in some form of athletics. Schools participate in inter-house athletics meetings, circuit/cluster meetings and ultimately in the District Championships. More than 2 000 learners from around the province will be participating in the athletics championships in the five districts of the province. The championships will commence this coming Friday in Seodin Primary School in John Taolo Gaetsewe District.
This will be followed by the high school championships which will start in Kathu high school next week Friday. This will help learners to prepare for the provincial and national championships later in the year.
Each district will be represented by 80 athletes at the provincial Championships which are scheduled for March in Kimberley.
About 100 learners are expected to represent the province at the National Championships set to take place in Paarl, Western Cape (Primary schools). The high school national championship will be held in Polokwane, old Peter Mokaba stadium.
Last year was a remarkable year for the learners that represented the Northern Cape at the national championships, where they collected more medals than in previous years. The Department of Education has been supportive towards sports development; the department will again assist with logistics once the championships enter the provincial level.
Through these annual athletics championship, the province has unearthed athletes like Phillipa Van der Merwe from Postmansburg who went on to represent South Africa in the Junior Olympic Games. The Kimberley born Paralympic gold medallist, Charl Bouwer also came through the ranks of the school athletics championship.