for Africa
Head north from South Africa’s capital Pretoria. Follow the road to
Roodeplaat Dam. Find yourself at the two year old RowSAcademy.
Discover a new development in the world of rowing and a new-look high performance centre complete with accommodation,
schooling and flat water. This is where South Africa is taking the
lead in developing rowing in Africa.
South Africa has become the
mothership for English-speaking
Africa as the most accomplished
nation in Africa on the rowing
front.
There are 22 African countries
that are FISA members (including
Zambia, Somalia and Libya
that joined following this year’s
Congress). South Africa, Egypt,
Tunisia, Kenya, Algeria and
Zimbabwe can claim international
level athletes.
national camps, group camps
and preparations towards All
Africa Games, Qualification
and Olympics,” says FISA’s
development manager Sheila
Stephens-Desbans.
that they will go backwards in
between seeing us.”
The nation boasts over 3200
registered rowers, the majority
coming from high schools, and
the sport can put claim to having
the oldest organised sports club in
the country. It dates back to 1861.
They are also the only African
nation with an Olympic medal in
rowing (Don Cech and Ramon Di
Clemente in 2004).
The camp allowed for two rows in
a day with physiological testing,
gym instruction and ergometer
work interspersed along with a
‘theoretical’ component.
Barrow also notes cultural
hurdles throughout Africa. “It’s a
very slow process to make people
confident with water. Culturally
many people are scared of rivers,
especially women. For them to put
their head under water is a huge
task. A lot of ancestors believe
water is a resource to drink, not
something to play with. South
Africa struggles with this a lot.”
“South Africa is a long way ahead
in resources and performance,”
says Roger Barrow who works
as a coach and organiser at the
centre.
Earlier this year the
RowSAcademy hosted the first
ever 2012 Talent Identification
Camp. Aimed at identifying
talented athletes for development
towards the 2012 Olympic Games,
the camp brought together 18
athletes and coaches from Egypt,
Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, Zambia
and Zimbabwe.
“The hope is that this will
be the beginning of a long-term development process for
athletes and coaches with further
Taking on the physiological testing
task, biokinetics specialist Tony
Paladin, better known as stroke
of South Africa’s lightweight
four, analysed every participant
using anthropometry and aerobic
capacity testing. Coming out with
a score out of 10, Paladin was
able to judge their potential as a
rower.
Development consultant for the
region Colleen Orsmond was
impressed with the results. “They
all did very well considering that
some of them sat in a boat for the
first time only two weeks earlier.”
“For the majority of countries
rowing in its Olympic form is
a relatively new and unknown
sport,” says Orsmond. But she
readily notes the potential. “I
do think that there is scope for
growth, but I think the way in
which the growth will best be
achieved needs to be carefully
tailored to the African context.”
Barrow adds: “Sometimes they
don’t know what rowing even
looks like.”
To help maintain the momentum,
especially amongst the coaches,
a coach mentoring programme
was also established utilising the
more experienced South African
coaches. Each coach has been
assigned a country.
“I think that growth will be
relatively slow, simply due to
the resource constraints, but that
the potential definitely exists,”
explains Orsmond. “I feel that
it’s important for development
to occur at two levels – at the
grassroots as well as the elite
level – if the sport is to be self
sustaining.”
Karabo Mothulwe (l), Clive Mbatha (c) and Junior Sikhwivhilu (r) at cross-training camp. /
Karabo Mothulwe (l), Clive Mbatha (c) et Junior Sikhwivhilu (r) lors d’un camp d’entraînement
croisé.
“This is a FISA initiative to use
local coaches,” says Barrow. “It
would be a big thing if we can
continue to do this, as we don’t
want this to be a one off. Continuity
is our biggest problem.” Barrow
lists other problems. “We have
athletes but we don’t have the
capacity for someone to run the
programme locally. I am worried
South Africa has set ambitious
goals in their own country. They
are planning for 10 athletes (six
female and four male) over a
four year period “to be skilled
international athletes and be
prepared academically for future
employment.”
