Why former minister of sport Fikile Mbalula’s sporting Wednesdays would never work

Any Tom, Dick and Harry has noticed that South Africa has an unbalanced school sports system. A serious, if not divine intervention is required to level the playing fields. It has taken over 30 years to remedy the situation and still a solution is not in place. On the turf our kids suffer those that do have sports have world class experiences and possibly could make a career from sports and for the have nots, the situation is dire. How will young people figure out their talents outside the classroom if there is no introduction to extra-curricular activities? How will we produce the next Julliard ballerina? The next contemporary dancer or the next Serena Williams if the very sports I just mentioned do not exist in young people’s sporting vocabularies.?

Former Minister of Sports Fikile Mbalula once proposed that on Wednesday’s pupils should participate in sports just like the bygone days. The very thought of the idea sounds sincere, but behind the idea comes the logic of implementation. First, South Africa has a 50-year backlog on creating sports infrastructure in schools. Secondly, the hardware which is the facilities would count for nothing if the software which is the coaching doesn’t exist. This is the serious problem in the township. There is generally a lack of specialised coaching in the township in sports besides Football and say netball. Who will coach the specialised technical skills of hurdles in athletics? Or the mechanics of a cross court backhand in tennis? Or the movement patterns of a lay-up in basketball? Who will provide the expert instruction at no cost? Yes, there are coaches who come from the township who coach not in the township but in affluent schools. Its simple, who is prepared to not earn a decent living for their time and expertise? Nobody is. You see, just playing on Wednesdays for the sake of just playing is not enough, there needs to be purposeful deliberate practice for motor neuron connections to be made in the brain. Play for the sake of play will only get you so far but detailed and specific instruction will take a performer to the next level. Studies in the neurosciences tell us about the 10 thousand hour rule. Many debate about the duration required from practice to become a top level international, but one thing is for sure purposeful practice is the only factor that will distinguish the best from the rest.

Affluent schools provide their performers with just that. Young people at these schools receive extra sports tuition not only at school but also at home. These performers receive many hours of specialised training behind the scenes, resulting in motor programs being deeply ingrained in long term memory instead of being partially stored in short term memory. So what are we saying about learners who go to township schools? Well its simple, if practice is denied or diminished no amount of practice will get you to any place worth going. So basically playing without learning about the tactics or strategy required to perform in that sport will just be useless. Correct technique and form is a prerequisite in certain physical activities such as gymnastics, dance, swimming and tennis. We need to create a culture of sports in township school by bringing about an ambiance in the way township sports is rolled out. Only then, maybe just maybe will we get learners who come from township schools excelling at the highest level of district, national and international competition without looking like a mickey mouse level of physical literacy.

By Sithembiso Nkosi