From Sport, Arts, Culture & Recreation
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The Free State Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation in partnership with the Department of Education as well as School Sport Structures and Federations delivered the Free State Provincial Team to the National Schools Championships from 09-14 July 2017 in Durban. The National Schools Championships is the highest sport competition for schools across South Africa.
This tournament created an opportunity for young athletes to participate and excel in sport and also seeks to break racial barriers in sport. The Free State Province team came 5th with a total of 9 bronze medals and 3 silver medals. 5 Free State athletes were also selected to form part of the National Netball Team.
The provincial teams in various sport codes were selected from a process of trials held at the local level, zonal level, district level, and ultimately to the provincial level where the final teams are selected. The provincial selections were held on 27 May 2017 in Mangaung, and on 03 June 2017 in Bethlehem. The participating codes were Chess, Football, Hockey, Jukskei, Kho kho, Netball, Rugby, Tennis, and Volleyball. A total number of 303 Free State athletes from these sport codes participated in the National Schools Championships.
“This tournament creates an opportunity for Free State athletes to be identified and nurtured through the sport development continuum and creates a base for federations to select athletes for provincial and national teams. Moreover, this tournament encourages social cohesion within our provincial and national teams at all levels hence it addresses barriers of entry into sport codes that are dominated by one racial group and fail to reflect the demographics of our society. We congratulate the Free State team for bringing 12 medals home” said MEC Mathabo Leeto.
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| Issued by:
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| Tankiso Zola
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| Director: Communication and IT
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| Cell: 082 940 2392
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| Tel: 051 410 4742/4786/4735
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| Email: tankiso@sacr.fs.gov.za
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