South Africa

In South Africa’s townships, boxing has been an important sport for many years. Not only because of the physical challenge, but above all as a way to give young people structure, discipline and self confidence. In cities such as Port Elizabeth, as well as in surrounding villages and neighbourhoods, many young people enthusiastically take part in boxing lessons – often without access to good facilities or coaching. Through this programme they do get that chance.

There has always been a passion for hockey in South Africa. The national team has also achieved impressive results at both international and Olympic level. Unfortunately, hockey does not receive the same level of investment and attention as other sports such as rugby, cricket and football. As a result, our young people in the townships do not get the chance to progress in the sport they love most. Through our hockey project, more young players can now play hockey in the hope of developing their skills in the sport. The local hockey coaches naturally hope that a new generation of hockey talent will emerge from these neighbourhoods. 

South Africans are extremely passionate about rugby and are therefore well known internationally as a tough and technically skilled force. Although rugby is a passion for many, very few people are able to play the game, let alone how many have the opportunity to develop their skills in a well-structured environment. Promising rugby players live in and around South Africa’s many townships, but their sporting talent remains undiscovered and undeveloped. Opportunities to play rugby in these neighbourhoods are very limited, but you’ll also see improvised rugby matches being organised on the streets. Many children dream of becoming the next international player who will bring the world title back to South Africa. Unfortunately, for most of them, this remains just a dream, simply because they do not get the chance to play the game.

Tennis has a reputation for being a sport associated with people from wealthy backgrounds. Although South Africa has produced many top players over the years, such as Wayne Ferreira, David Adams and Wesley Moodie, not a single one has come from South Africa’s townships. On the one hand, this is strange because there is certainly a great passion for the sport amongst the participants in our programmes; on the other hand, it is not surprising, given that there are no proper facilities available to people in the townships. Fortunately, through our tennis project in South Africa, you can collaborate with local organisations supported by the Roger Federer Foundation. The aim is to give a number of young tennis players the opportunity to play the sport in South Africa.

After South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup, the world was able to see for itself how football is experienced here. In Port Elizabeth, people still vividly remember how Wesley Sneijder headed home the 2–1 winner against Brazil at the Port Elizabeth stadium! The townships where we operate are also full of enthusiastic and often talented young footballers. Unfortunately, the opportunities to play football and develop their skills are often very limited for these talented youngsters. The footballers you will be coaching are based at schools in the townships and the surrounding areas.

Swimming in South Africa has two sides to it. On the one hand, the South African swimming team is certainly a force to be reckoned with at international level. On the other hand, 70 per cent of the population has no swimming experience and therefore cannot swim. And that is rather remarkable, given that the country is bordered by the sea to the west, south and east. This leads to more than 1,000 drownings a year, and it will probably come as no surprise that the victims are young people, almost all of whom come from the townships. These shocking figures led ‘Swimming South Africa’ (SSA), the national governing body for swimming, to launch a national swimming campaign in 1999. The aim of this programme is to teach every South African to swim, with a particular focus on people from communities with fewer swimming facilities.