A collaborative project between the Sport Management Department and the School of Marketing and Management at Coventry University, UK, will see students designing an event which is similar to Cape Town’s 'Fit-night out' for the UK audience.

Fit-night out is an annual outdoor fitness event linked to the Women's Health Magazine, a global publication which specialises in the health and wellbeing of women. At the end of the project , the students will be required to submit a 15-minute launch video highlighting various aspects of the event and their proposed ideas.

Sport Management Department’s Prof Brendon Knott says a group of final year students from Coventry were paired with fourth-year CPUT students to collaborate on a sport event marketing project in a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project. “COIL refers to ‘virtual mobility’ experiences that are incorporated into the formal curriculum,” says Knott.

Students have been actively engaging in Event Design and Marketing Principles on an international level of Teaching and Learning, says Dr Janice Hemmonsbey, a lecturer in the Sport Management Department.

Hemmonsbey adds that the students from the two universities have been engaging virtually on this exciting interactive event design project. “The UK version of Women’s Health Magazine wants to bring the outdoor fitness event concept to England, to encourage sport participation in women, more so considering the forthcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games,” she says.

Sport Management student, Christiaan Van Zyl, says that the sessions were very informative and that the two groups of students helped each other a lot.

“We got more understanding of event design and event experience. Now our group knows how to apply the theory. It was great to learn about their culture and how they do things,” says Christian. “This is a wonderful collaboration and initiative from the side of CPUT. The COIL project provides a great platform for students.”

Coventry University student, Helen Grimley, says she learnt to compare her opinions and knowledge on outdoor fitness events with those of her university peers and the South African students. “I was able to gain insights into a different cultural perspective which I may not have even considered if the COIL project hadn’t taken place,” adds Helen. 

Written by Kwanele Butana
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The Sport Management Department is not only expanding but planning to tap into the adrenaline-pumping adventure sports industry.

The department, which previously only had offices at the Mowbray campus, has now set up shop at the Wellington Campus.

With a first-year intake of just over 40 students, lecturers at the Wellington campus say the programme is off to a good start.

However, opening a department at the Wellington campus is not the only plan lecturers have in store for this popular course.

As from 2011 students studying Sport Management will have the opportunity to specialise in adventure sports.

From white river rafting to windsurfing, adventure sport is one of the fastest growing industries in the world.

Across the globe, adventurers of all ages are signing up for adventure holidays, adventure tours, extreme sports and adrenalin experiences.

With a global demand in this type of activity, there are now opportunities for extreme sport enthusiasts to start up adventure sports businesses.

The adventure sports module, which is the brainchild of Etienne Joubert, a Sport Management lecturer and adventure sports enthusiasts, will be offered to students in their second and third year.

Joubert, who is coordinating the Sport Management course at the Wellington Campus, said he saw the need to enhance the skills of CPUT students.

“Adventure studies will be an extra module that will give students skills which they can use to specialise in adventure sports,” he said.

The course will have a strong focus on entrepreneurship, thus providing students with the necessary skills to start up adventure sports businesses.

Joubert said while they have a range of facilities at the Wellington campus, they will have to acquire more equipment in order to run the adventure studies module.

“This is going to be a resource intensive course,” he said.

However, adventure sports at the Wellington campus will not only be limited to those studying Sport Management.

Earlier this month, the Student Affairs Department launched the Adventure Club.

Sports Development Officer Tyrone Africa said the club will allow students who are not interested in mainstream sport the opportunity to participate in outdoor activities.

Working hand in hand with Joubert, the club will also benefit those studying Sport Management and give them an opportunity to take their sporting to another level.

Africa said the Adventure Club will not only be for social purposes.

“We want this to be a competitive club,” he said.

Africa said the club will not be limited to a specific sport and that students will have an opportunity to participate in a range of adventure sports, from land to water-based activities.

By Candes Keating 

Written by CPUT News

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Former Springbok captain Corné Krige encouraged first-year Sport & Leisure Management students to exercise self-discipline as they enter an exciting new chapter in their lives.

During a motivational talk at the Mowbray campus, the rugby legend who is now a successful businessman, encouraged the group to “work hard and play hard”.

“Personal discipline is something you must never let go of. It is when you do the right thing, even if nobody is watching. Be responsible but remember to enjoy yourself.”

Krige said South Africa needs amazing administrators in sport.

“You are the future of sport in South Africa and good luck with that responsibility. You are the future CEOs of Cricket South Africa, in soccer and in rugby, so don’t take it lightly”.

Prof Simeon Davies, Head of the Sport Management Department, said the Department was privileged to have Krige, a former CPUT student, addressing the first-years.

“It demonstrates that an ex-student of CPUT can achieve Springbok status and build the foundation for the team that won the World Cup in Japan under captain Siya Kolisi.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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CPUT’s progress in meeting the physical and academic needs of staff and students with disabilities was celebrated last week, as students, design gurus, disability experts and donors gathered to showcase the university’s innovations in empowering persons with disabilities.

Dr Nina du Toit, Disability Unit coordinator, gave warm thanks to the units’ many supporters and donors, and reiterated that CPUT’s bold blueprint to provide universal access to those with disabilities across CPUT’s five campuses is forging ahead. Guest speakers included Mrs Wendy Ackerman, a staunch supporter of research and development in the field of disability through The Ackerman Family Educational Trust. CEO of the Carl and Emily Fuchs Foundation, Dr Riaan Els also gave a keynote address. This foundation has been extremely supportive of the Disability Unit since its inception in 2008, giving annually to boost the unit’s coffers. In his address, Dr Els emphasised that only 5% of those with severe disabilities attain a higher education qualification, with females at more of a disadvantage than males.

In recent years CPUT has unveiled a few ground-breaking technologies and projects to combat this dire statistic. These include the country’s first prototype car adapted for driving by people with disabilities. This is the first ever locally-engineered prototype to feature joystick engineering, and has opened a world of driving opportunities for persons with disabilities in South Africa.

CPUT’s Sport Management Department is also involved in training and research with the London makers of the Ekso Bionic Suit, which enables people with spinal cord injuries to walk.

The Ekso Bionic suit which gives those immobilised by spinal cord injuries the ability to walk

Yet another innovation is being overseen by CPUT’s Universal Design guru, Prof Mugendi M’Rithaa. His students are developing a unique range of kitchenware for those with special needs, in collaboration with Hekkie Brink. Brink, a person with one arm was introduced to the Industrial Design department by Mrs Ackerman. Through the funding graciously approved by The Ackerman Family Educational Trust, Hekkie’s products are now being developed into a commercially viable range.

One of the innovative kitchen utensils developed by Hekkie Brink and Industrial Design students

Other attendees included stalwart supporters of the Disability Unit such as national oil and gas company, PetroSA, who offer students with a range of disabilities full bursaries and guaranteed work contracts on successful completion of their studies. The HCI Foundation, the corporate social investment arm of HCI, were also gratefully acknowledged for their contributions to bursaries, and providing 54 assistive devices to students with learning difficulties.

Written by Janyce Weintrob
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Good batting performance lies in the brain.

This is the results of a study by Cape Town academics, which revealed that cricket batsmen have to clear their minds and focus on important cues from the bowler prior to the cricket ball being released, in order to correctly play the most appropriate stroke.

This study provides the first scientific evidence relating to skilled batting performance with mental preparation measured by brain activity.

The study was conducted by Dr Sharhidd Taliep of the CPUT’s Sport Management Department in collaboration with Dr Lester John of the University of Cape Town’s Medical Imaging Research Unit.

This group of researchers is the first in the world to publish brain-related perceptual research in cricketers.

Taliep, who is the study’s chief investigator, says an electro-encephalographic was used in the study to measure brain activity of skilled and less-skilled cricket batsmen.

He found that the brain is able to shut down irrelevant internal chatter in order to obtain an optimal mental state for batting performance. This irrelevant internal chatter competes for resources of the brain and skilled batsmen are better able to shut it out, allowing more energy to be focused on important processes.

Taliep says this study is the first to show this in reactive sports like cricket and the results could be applied to other reactive sports like baseball, tennis and squash, where it could be used to train and test athletes.

The article will be published in the international journal, Perception, at the end of April under the headline: “Sport Expertise: The role of precise timing of verbal-analytical engagement and the ability to detect visual cues”.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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Zizipho Ndlwana, an Assistant Researcher in the Sport Management Department, beat the odds by recently climbing the highest peak of Mount Kilimanjaro despite being an amputee.

At 5 895m above sea level Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa.

It took Ndlwana’s group, which included three other amputees from Cape Town, Johannesburg and America, eight days to climb up and down the summit.

“It was the most challenging thing, psychologically and physically, for an amputee to do. It was energy-consuming and we endured a lot of pain,” he says.

“We sustained blisters, sometimes we fell from loose rocks and it was freezing cold.”

He says in spite of the challenges he drew strength to keep going from his teammates’ determination to complete the climb as well as their smiles.

They embarked on the journey to spread a message of hope to the world as well as raising funds for the Gabriella Centre, a Somerset-West based home for people with Cerebral Palsy.

After the hike they visited a Tanzanian school for disabled children where they gave a motivational talk to the staff and learners.

“I feel blessed now that I have done the hike,” says Ndlwana.

“I’m all about facing challenges and would do it all over again.”

In 2010 Ndlwana was involved in a car accident which caused his left leg to be amputated as his body sustained multiple fractures.

He started his rehabilitation in 2011 and eventually got to walk again, something he thought he would never be able to do.

He is currently preparing for the qualifiers for the next Paralympic Games where he hopes to compete in discus and shot put.  

Written by Kwanele Butana
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The Sport Management Department is involved in ground-breaking training with the Ekso Bionic Suit which enables people with spinal cord injuries to walk.

Developed by Ekso Bionics in London, the Ekso suit is strapped over the user’s clothing with adjustments to suit the patient’s height and weight.

Walking is achieved when the user’s weight shifts and activates sensors in the device which initiate steps. It is the motors which are powered by battery that drive the legs.

Staff members of the department’s Human Performance Lab were recently trained and certified by the company’s London-based trainers to operate the suit.

The suit which is used by the lab’s staff has been hired from the company by Andrew Merryweather, who has been undergoing rehabilitation and therapy in the lab since his accident in 2006 which left him with severe spinal cord injuries.

The suit, one of only two in Africa, has also been tried by other accident survivors free of charge.

“We invited other people with spinal cord injuries and they came to try the Ekso out, including a lady who had not walked for 24 years,” says Dr Sacha West, the lab’s co-ordinator.

West says Merryweather will only have the suit for about a month before he returns to the Ekso Bionics. He has been renting it for $4200 per month since October, as the suit costs almost R1 million.

“It will be a big shame to lose the suit,” says West.

Merryweather says that since he started training in the suit his body has grown a lot stronger.

“I’m beginning to feel sensation in left foot, my walking pattern has improved and now I can walk in the swimming pool unassisted.”

Written by Kwanele Butana
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