1

Blooding a crop of new players in the country’s largest student rugby competition was always a risky step but coach Andy Royle believes it will pay off in the months to come, writes Alan Leonard, Wits Rugby Club manager, who accompanied the squad to the USSA’s at Rhodes in Grahamstown.

Wits lost their opening match to a very strong UJ team 15-52, a game in which the Auckland Park side quickly established themselves as tourna-ment favourites. Joshua Jarvis and Richard Crossman crossed for tries while Michael Sephton-

Poultney kicked a conversion and a penalty. Wits captain Thato Mavundla, and Connor Brockschmidt, Joshua Jarvis and Gideon Muller, were all outstanding. Wits’ second match on the Wednesday, against UFS Shimlas, was, accord-ing to most spectators, one of the best of the tournament. The Witsies put in a massive effort to tie the match 24-24 at full time before con-ceding three tries in extra time to lose 24-43. Outstanding contributions were made by Thato Mavundla, Brent Crossley, Josh Jarvis, Ish Nkolo, Luvoyo Pupuma and Ameer Williams.

In a stunning turnaround of last year’s events, Wits’ men’s and women’s first basketball teams traded fortunes at this year’s USSA’s. In 2014 it was the Wits Lady Bucks who made the final of the national student basketball championships — indeed, won it — and the Wit’s men’s team who were bundled out at the semi-final stage. The Horny Bucks nevertheless won their third-place play-off.

But the kudos this year go to the women’s team, who put behind them the disappointment of last year’s third-place finish, sweeping all before them to wrest the women’s title by beating the highly-rated VUT 66-62.

The tournament follows the tragic death of UL Medunsa and Gauteng University Basketball League chairperson Tshepo Manamela. At the time of his passing, Manamela was chairperson of the GUBL exco.

Wits’ men’s side had to settle for third place this time around, beating UJ 85-40 in their play-off. Wits lost 63-50 to VUT in their semi-final game, despite leading 36-29 going into the final quarter. In last year’s championships at UCT, the WHB were losing finalists.

Wits Lady Bucks, coached by the modest Wilie Matlakala, became the first Wits team to win gold

at a 2014 USSA team tournament. The consistent effort put into a tough GUBL season, and a hard working out by coaches Matlakala and men’s 1st

team coach Tshiamo Ngakane during the pre-tournament training camp, appear to have served Wits Basketball well. The Lady Bucks’ Modiegi Mokoka was voted Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Following their victory, VC Adam Habib expressed his intention to honour the Lady Bucks’ achievement when students return for the new term. Click here to see a video clip of the final.

The victorious WLB squad. Modiegi Mokoka (front left) sank the final basket for the Wits women’s team to clinch the USSA title.

I N S I D E

Brylon & Bruce

named in USSA u21

3

Happy ending for

women’s hockey in

3

More accolades in

line for Pietie Coet-

2

Wits Fencing foils

the sceptics

4

Evasan Chettiar

makes a Polish-ed

2

Engen KOC 2014 4

Volunteering

for USSA

3

W I T S ’ 2 0 1 4 M I D - Y E A R

U S S A H I G H L I G H T S

● Women’s hockey

side finish 2nd in B-

section; secure inclu-

sion in Varsity

Hockey

● WHB win play-off

for 3rd place

● Rugby XV run oppo-

nents close but end

winless in G’Town

● Men’s hockey team

finish 7th in A-

section

Volleyball men,

women crash out in

QF’s but still send

players to national &

provincial squads

Badminton wins sin-

gles & team honours

LADY LUCK SMILES ON LADY BUCKS

ROUGH RIDE FOR RUGBY ROOKIES AT RHODES

F R I D A Y 1 8 J U L Y 2 0 1 4 V O L 1

Against NMMU, Wits charge out as they restart from a 22m drop-out

Wits are forced defend an NMMU punt ahead. The Witsies lost this final game 26-22.

2

Don’t forget!

AmaTuesdayz inter-varsity football

returns on August 5th when Wits’

men’s & women’s teams are away

to UJ @ their Bunting Road campus

stadium. Abafazi kick off @ 6pm,

Madoda @ 8.30pm. Contact Dennis

“Big T” Tshabalala (011-717 9413)

for tickets.

Witsies make GP, SA student volleyball squads despite USSA QF exits

Women’s hockey coach wins GP sports honours

Wits’ women’s hockey coach,

Pietie Coetzee (left) was rec-

ognised recently as the Gau-

teng Sports Award’s Sports-

woman of the Year for 2014.

Pietie beat contenders Kirsten

Beckett (gymnastics) and

Kistern McCann (rowing) for

this accolade. She joined Wits

Hockey at the beginning of the

year. The coach was also a late

call-up to the SA women’s

team participating in this

year’s Rabobank hockey

World Cup in Amsterdam, The

Netherlands.

She is one of the most capped

players in women’s test

hockey, and is also a leading

goal-scorer among her peers

at international level.

After a long and rewarding

career in international hockey,

it was natural that Pietie

would take to coaching. These

days he’s a regular down at

the WEC artificial pitch, put-

ting girls through their paces.

Despite bowing out at the quarter-finals stage in this year’s USSA’s, both Wits’ men’s and women’s volleyball teams will be repre-sented in the Gauteng provincial and SA national student team squads.

Thandeka Tshabalala was called up to the national volleyball team, Zinhle Kunene made the Gauteng provincial side, and Dominic

The finals, staged in OMSH, were contested by UCT and VUT (men) and VUT and UWC (women).

at the UKZN-DUT-WITS-U Stell inter-varsity event in Durban over the weekend of 28 & 29 June; and Ricky Robinson, Gina Gibson and Victoria Stock in the MSC Offshore Regatta, also in Durban, from 1-5 July.

For a detailed report on all three events follow the link from the WYC web page.

WBC’s Tashlin Hamid reports that the team excelled at the 2014 USSA’s at UFS in Bloemfontein, winning both individual and team titles. WBC, only resuscitated in 2014 after years in the doldrums, won bronze in the team section. Tashlin and his CPUT partner won the men’s doubles event and Lisa Chen won the consolation singles event. Below, they show off their Bloem medal haul.

Wits Yacht Club’s Alexa Brown reports that in recent weeks the club’s current and alumni members participated in sev-eral events. These were Drew Amoretti (club boatswain) and Brennan Robinson (commodore 2012/13) in the Vasco da Gama offshore race from Maputo to Durban from 19-22 June; Ricky Robinson and Brennan Robin-son assisted the WYC regulars

Wits women in action at Hall 29 against Monash

WITS YACHT CLUB UPDATE

Evasan aims to Polish his game at WUC chess champs

Evasan Chettiar

Wits Chess Club’s Evasan Chettiar

will represent SA at the 13th World

University Championships (WUC)

chess tournament in Katowice,

Poland, from 18-24 August. The

championships are part of the

sporting events of the International

University Sports Federation, or-

ganised every even-numbered year

between the Summer and Winter

Universiades. Follow Evasan’s pro-

gress on Facebook: FISU World

University Championships and on

the internet www.fisu.net/World

University Championships

Badminton comes

good at USSA’s

Volleyballers help make USSA happen

A visit down to Hall 29 on any day during the USSA volley-

ball tournament week – from Monday 30 June to Friday 4

July - revealed, between all the action on court, a frenetic

but cheerful atmosphere. Students from around the coun-

try could be found warming up, practicing moves, scrutinis-

ing fixture schedules, or preparing to move between ven-

ues.

But preparing an USSA tournament can be nerve-wracking.

Ask students Nomcebo Msweli (below centre) and Linah

Rakgwale who came to the aid of sports officer Dennis

Tshabalala to help organise this year’s annual USSA tourna-

ment at Wits, while themselves preparing to play! Read

their story on the Wits Volleyball club page.

Pietie Coetzee, GP’s 2014 sportswoman of the year

3

Wits women hockey’s good USSA run

Wits women made up for last year’s

unsatisfactory performance at their

USSA’s by finishing second in the B-

section of the 2014 edition of the

event. In the process, they ran even-

tual section winners Varsity College

very close in the national student

hockey championships. Wits ended

runners–up by winning four games

and losing only one. To boot, Witsie

Wendy Panaino, with her two field

goals and one penalty corner con-

version, was amongst the section’s

top three goal-scorers.

And by a stroke of good fortune,

Wits women’s hockey will return to

Varsity Hockey—the country’s pre-

mier competition for women stu-

dents. That’s because Varsity Col-

lege, who earned the right to par-

ticipate in the tournament by virtue

of being pool winners, have not yet

concluded the necessary contractual

arrangements with the tournament

organisers to take their place in the

event. In 2015, therefore, both Wits’

men’s and women’s teams will play

Varsity Hockey.

her tenure to introduce Wits netballers to

a stiffer level of competition, supporting

participation in the early-season expanded

Gauteng inter-varsity series, and moving

to the local Ekhuruleni league. Doubtless,

In a tournament week that also saw net-

ball club chair Seriti Moloi step down and

bow out of netball for the foreseeable

future, Wits won three of their five games

at the USSA’s at NMMU to keep alive the

promise of reclaiming A-section status.

Wits secured wins over UKZN (48-22) and

WSU Ibika (45-32), lost narrowly to TUT 2

(28-30) and UL Medunsa (37-40) before

bouncing back in their final game to beat

NWU Mafikeng 27-20 and finish second in

their 8-team B-section.

At the end of the tournament Seriti Moloi,

who replaced Lindiwe Radebe as chair of

Wits Netball in 2014, announced she was

stepping down following her acceptance

of a scholarship that requires her to

achieve at a higher level and spend time

as an intern. Moloi worked hard during

coach Martha Mosoahle will push for

greater accomplishments, but new netball

sports officer Lorraine Masibi will feel a

positive start has been made. Congrats to

all, and a huge thank you to Seriti!

front row) are regulars in the Wits

Students’ team that campaigns in

the USSA Gauteng Football

League’s AmaTuesdayz inter-

varsity provincial competition.

The SA competition features u-

21 selection teams from SAFA

structures in all nine provinces,

with the USSA team making up

the 10th side. This year the

event will be staged at the UNW

in Mafikeng. The Western Cape

are the tournament’s defending

champions.

Witsie footballers Brylon Peter-

son (goalkeeper) and Bruce Mta-

bane (midfielder) have been

named in the USSA squad to par-

ticipate in the 15th annual South

African Breweries u-21 Regional

League National Championships

tournament. The event runs from

14 to 20 July at NWU Mafikeng.

Both Brylon (third from right, back

row) and Bruce (third from right,

WHO’S GOT MY BACK? Julia de Kock marshals her defensive line as

Wits launch another attack on the UWC goal. Wits won this 2nd

game of the tournament 5-1.

Two Witsie ‘ballers named in USSA u21 squad

Wits Netball a step closer to reclaiming A-section status as Moloi bows out

Wits prepare to attack the TUT 2 goal in a game they lost narrowly lost 30-28

The 2014 Wits men student’s team (pic: Nqobile Dludla)

FINAL STANDINGS

1. Varsity College

2. Wits

3. Rhodes

4. NWU Vaal

5. UWC

6. CPUT

SOLO CHARGE: Judy Thulumane leads a Wits

assault on Varsity College. The narrow 2-1 defeat to

the eventual section winners was Wits’ only loss of

the week-long USSA tournament.

Witsie Zinhle Kunene was selected to the Gauteng provincial women’s volley-ball team

Made it!

I N

M E M O R I A M

The coaches, players &

supporters of Wits Bas-

ketball, and the staff of

WitsSport honour the

memory of the late

Tshepo Manamela,

a faithful servant of uni-

versity basketball Lala

Ngoxolo, Bra Tshepo, we

will miss you.

4

Club chair Richard Dobson (pictured left

below at the final dinner) reports that Wits

was again among the medals at the five-

institution Gymnastics USSA’s held at UCT

from 2-6 July. The final medals tally was

down on last year’s haul though, partly due

to taking a less experienced team than in

previous years. Some gymnasts also carried

slight injuries that affected their perform-

ance.

Medal winners from amongst the ten-

person squad were Marian de Pontes

(bronze level 1 WAG), Mitchell Struwig

(silver level 1 MAG), Catherine Honegger

(bronze novice table-top trampoline), and

he himself won gold (senior Olympic level

MAG) and bronze (tumbling). Wits Alumnus

Robyn Taylor won two golds for intermedi-

ate tumbling and level 5 WAG. Competing

‘varsities alongside Wits and the hosts were

UNW, Tuks and Maties.

Wits Fencing Club earned new gradings at the

provincial ranking event held As for the re-

sults, Wits won the following accolades at

Gauteng Fencing Association Ranking 2:

In the senior men's sabre, gold went to Wikus

Koen, while Justin Logie (gold), Koen (silver)

and Mikesh Harrilall (bronze) swept away all

opposition in the senior men’s foil. Harilall

also bagged bronze in the senior men’s epee,

and Heather Martens claimed bronze in the

women's epee. Wits won medals in all of the

events that we entered. Participation from

the girls was a bit lacking so we were unable

to enter Senior Women's Foil and Senior

Women's Sabre.

The tournament went extremely smoothly,

and all events ran according to schedule,

which is highly unusual for fencing! The GFA

was very pleased with the facilities and they

expressed much gratitude towards Wits.

There were a number of u20 and u17 events

so there were many parents present and they

were very happy with their experience of Wits

University. One young man has asked to join

our club and the parents of at least three

others said they would most likely enrol their

sons at Wits.

This year’s Johannesburg leg of the Engen Knockout Challenge kicked off on Friday 18 July at Marks Park—it continues to Sunday 20th—to the rhythm of drums and the spec-tacle of energetic dancing by the Basotho dance troupe, the Flying Carpets. The groupings and fixtures draw for the third event in South Africa’s leading youth football

tournament was finalised at Wits Univer-sity’s Sturrock Park sports complex on Wed 2 July. The tournament is contested by SAFA’s leading u-17 teams. Wits University’s Marks

sports officer for football Dennis Tsha-balala, who is also tournament director, says the university’s 11-year partnership with Engen has proven successful in help-ing many young hopefuls fulfil their foot-ball dreams.

“It will be interesting to see how many young talented players are identified this year and who may be scouted to take the next step up into the professional ranks of the sport,” he says. The five-leg tournament is played at ven-ues around the country. The E Cape sec-tion of the tournament was staged at the Gelvandale Sport Complex in PE on 27-29 June, and the Free State event was held at Grey College in Bloemfontein over the weekend of 4-6 July. It moved to Dur-ban’s Highbury & Pegasus Sport Complex on 11-13 July, and the last leg of the tour-nament will be held at Cape Town’s Wil-liam Herbert Sportsground from 1-3 August. Hopes are high that a new crop of youngsters will emerge to follow in the footsteps of Ajax Amsterdam’s Thulani Serero and S’sport United’s Ronwen Wil-liams Mokeke

Wits' Jonathan Jubber reports that the 2014 tournament held at Wits on 25 & 26 June was acclaimed by all as the best ever, thanks in part to the new climbing wall in the Old Mutual Sports Hall (OMSH), and the expert routes set. This proved a set-back for the Witsies however because it was their Dylan Vogt (pictured) who set the routes, thereby ruling him out of com-peting for his team. NWU's Nkosi Nama, who won the men's lead competition, was

the only one to make it to the end of the route set by Dylan. "Dylan set some amazing routes that kept the other universities on their toes - literally. He is the strongest climber we

have and by far the strongest of all who attended," said Jubber. Wits' did manage to bag silver in the women's boulder final. Jonathan added that the teams were 'blown away' by the quality of the wall and want the event staged at Wits again next year. FINAL RESULTS: 1st - Rhodes; 2nd - NWU; 3rd - UP; 4th - Wits; 5th - UCT.

Wits amajita gear up for Marks Park football fest Mountain out on a limb

Barloworld Ford Bruma

Cumberland Rd/Eastgate Road

Park Meadows Shopping

Centre, Eastgate

Tel: +27 11 607 5000

No fence-sitters, our Witsies Gymnastics USSA’s