School Sports and Where is it now Episode 3

 

Powerade Performance Academy concludes the major cities tour triumphantly

The Powerade Performance Academy for 2019 concluded at the Wanderers Country Club in Johannesburg this past Sunday. After a successful run of academies in Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town there was a lot of enthusiasm around the final academy with performance experts ensuring the attending school coaches were given insights and knowledge on effective coaching.

Powerade has aimed much of its efforts on high school coaches in recognising their role as prime influencers of the next generation of South Africa’s sporting heroes.

The list of experts for the Johannesburg leg included; High Performance coach John McGrath, former national team goalkeeper and Supersport United goalkeeper coach Andre Arendse, former Proteas Netball player and University Netball coach Zanele Mdodana and Natalie Du Toit, Paralympics and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

Puso Makume, Powerade Sponsorship Manager said “As we conclude and reflect on the Powerade Performance Academy for 2019, it has been a privilege to have interacted with almost 300 high school coaches throughout the Powerade Performance Academies in the country. With the inclusion of coaching experts, Powerade has introduced school sport coaches to appropriate training, skills development and the importance of hydration. We hope all coaches will inspire their players to be Always Forward and continue to nurture the next breed of sports heroes.”

Speaking on Understanding the Role of Coaching, Andre Arendse took to the stage and touched on the importance of talent identification and identifying key areas of development to ensure you enable a progressive an inclusive environment.  “It’s been such a pleasure to be part of the Powerade movement as coaches play an impactful role in shaping a well-rounded athlete and team player.” he shared.

The passionate university netball coach, Zanele Mdodana, spoke about the aspect of Changing the Game and Changing Lives which many of the high school coaches could relate to.  “The Powerade Academy gave the opportunity to share my journey I had taken with the Maties team and how we were able to change the players lives through changing the game which lead to the team coming together to seal a successful 2019 season. Through my experiences, it’s been imperative for players to hold one another accountable and create a coach-lead but player centric programme for their desired outcome.”

McGrath dialled the energy up with a practical session where he showed feats of strength and practical examples of breaking boundaries by bending nails, breaking chains, tearing packs of cards and breaking an adjustable wrench.  “These acts I do are all metaphors for what you can do and what is possible. Everyone has an inner voice that prevents us from achieving our goals and it is up to us to decide if we would like to listen to that voice or not.”

“The subject of shifting sports paradigms is one to help coaches of any level understand that to achieve certain things, coaches need to train players to abandon preconceived ideas that people have about their abilities and about what is conceived as a boundary.”

Natalie du Toit concluded the Powerade Performance Academy by talking about How to get the best out of your athlete through coaching and mentoring. “Coaching and mentoring is a topic is spoken about more often at International Olympic and Paralympic committees. Through my session, I wanted to get the coaches to think about the two roles and to see what role they want to play with the teams they coach.”

To connect the coaches across the country, visit the Powerade Facebook Community, Coaches Corner where coaches can interact, share their stories and receive bitesize expert advice from this year’s diverse panel of Powerade Academy experts.

For more information, visit Powerade Facebook page (@PoweradeZA)

Zanele Mdodana

Natalie du Toit

Andre Arendse

Another Huge Success at the Powerade Performance Academy in Port Elizabeth

 

The annual Powerade Performance Academy continued to be a huge success in Port Elizabeth last weekend. It saw coaches from around the Eastern Cape listen to expert performance coaches as part of an interactive session of empowering and enriching lessons for school coaches. Powerade has aimed much of its focus on high school coaches in recognition of their role as primary influencers of the next generation of South Africa’s sporting heroes.

Malibongwe Maketa assistant coach to the Proteas, Verlie Oosthuizen Partner and Head of Social Media Law at Shepston and Wyrle Associates, John McGrath Luvo Manyonga’s High Performance coach and Motivational speaker and Kass Naidoo South Africa’s first women cricket commentator and founder of GSports took the coaches on a journey of discovery as they spoke to them about various aspects of coaching and youth development.

Proteas assistant coach, Malibongwe Maketa, explored the topic of identifying talent and about coaching a diverse team, “Coaches are in the position where they can change someone’s life on a daily basis. If there is one thing, I hope the coaches understood the reality of dealing with a group of different characters from different backgrounds. Additionally, coaches need to learn how to deal with their players, get the best out of the different characters and ensure players accept each other and work together for the benefit of the team.”

Social Media Lawyer, Verlie Oosthuizen, enlightened the coaches about the dynamics of social media and how coaches can orientate players adequately to benefit the team and the players. “Social media needs to be used responsibly and consciously, otherwise the reputation of all school stakeholders will be compromised. Coaches are often under fire by parents and old student from schools, so they need to be educated on the best practice of social media conduct either professionally and/or personally.”

John McGrath, High Performance Coach tackled the mental side of preparing sports men and women. “In shifting paradigms, it is about abandoning preconceived ideas that people have about their abilities and about what is conceived as a boundary.” he said. McGrath illustrated practical examples of breaking boundaries by bending nails, breaking chains, tearing packs of cards and breaking an adjustable wrench. “These are all metaphors for what you can do and what is possible. Everyone has an inner voice that prevents us from achieving our goals and it is up to us to decide if we would like to listen to that voice or not.”

The coaches were honoured by our last speaker, Kass Naidoo, who is the first South African Women’s commentator and advocate of women’s sport. “It is important for coaches to consider the six routines of success as I believe that if you follow and you keep the basics in line you will achieve the desired success.”

Coaching continues to be an ever-transforming discipline that incorporates innovative techniques and principles to improve performance. The Academy allowed the coaches from the various schools and sporting codes to go back to their respective schools in the spirit of “teach one, teach all’.

To connect the coaches across the country, Powerade has also introduced a Powerade Facebook Community called the Coaches Corner where coaches can interact and share their daily challenges and achievements with their peers. The next legs of Powerade Performance Academies will take place in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

For more information, visit Powerade Facebook page (@PoweradeZA) and #AlwaysForward. 

Notes to Editor

Speakers for Performance Academy in Port Elizabeth

Malibongwe Maketa: Current Proteas assistant coach and former coach of the Warriors Cricket Team.

Topic: Identifying talent

Verlie Oosthuizen: Partner and Head of Social Media Law at Shepston and Wyrle Associates.

Topic: Beware of Social Media

John McGrath: Luvo Manyonga’s high performance coach, World-renowned high-performance coach and last Strongman of Africa and Motivational speaker and performance artist

Topic: Changing sports paradigms

Kass Naidoo: 20 years in journalism, South Africa’s first women cricket commentator and founder of GSports

Topic: Six of the best

Powerade continues Exclusive Performance Academy for Coaches

Port Elizabeth hosts the second Powerade Performance Academy of 2019 in Nelson Mandela Bay on the 28^th July 2019. The academy sees expert performance coaches being part of an interactive session of empowering and enriching lessons for school coaches.

For this year’s academy Malibongwe Maketa assistant coach to the Proteas, Verlie Oosthuizen Partner and Head of Social Media Law at Shepston and Wyrle Associates, John McGrath Luvo Manyonga’s high performance coach, World-renowned high-performance coach, last Strongman of Africa and Motivational speaker and Kass Naidoo South Africa’s first women cricket commentator and founder of GSports will be take the coaches through critical lessons on how to tackle aspects of coaching on and off the field of play.

Popular local, Malibongwe Maketa has first-hand experience on what Port Elizabeth has to offer and is excited to share his knowledge with the coaches from the province to help them take their coaching to another level. Malibongwe will talk to the coaches about identifying talent as he has been involved in identifying the talent that is currently at show at the Warriors Cricket side.  He forms part of the Proteas setup where the work that school coaches do at grassroots level comes to fruition.

Academy allows the attending coaches from the various school sporting codes to go back to their respective schools in the spirit of ‘teach one, teach all’.

Powerade is dedicated to finding ways to innovate and support sports men and women’s progression of active goals and has maintained its commitment to young South African sportsmen and sportswomen by providing them with the necessary platforms to achieve their ultimate sporting goals.  In line with this commitment, Powerade has aimed much of its focus on high school coaches in recognition of their role as primary influencers of the next generation of South Africa’s sporting heroes.

To connect the coaches across the country, Powerade has also introduced a Powerade Facebook Community called the Coaches Corner where coaches can interact and share their daily challenges and achievements with their peers. The next leg of Powerade Performance Academies will take place in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

For more information, visit Powerade Facebook page (@PoweradeZA) and #AlwaysForward. 

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Speakers for Performance Academy in Port Elizabeth

Malibongwe Maketa: Current Proteas assistant coach and former coach of the Warriors Cricket Team.

Topic: Identifying talent

Verlie Oosthuizen: Partner and Head of Social Media Law at Shepston and Wyrle Associates.

Topic: Beware of Social Media

John McGrath: Luvo Manyonga’s high performance coach, World-renowned high-performance coach and last Strongman of Africa and Motivational speaker and performance artist

Topic: Changing sports paradigms

Kass Naidoo: 20 years in journalism, South Africa’s first women cricket commentator and founder of GSports

Topic: Six of the best

The First Powerade Performance Academy is a Huge Success In Durban

Annual seminar held to empower local coaches

The 6^th annual Powerade Performance Academy kicked off in Durban last week. It saw coaches from around KwaZulu-Natal listen to expert performance coaches as part of an interactive session of empowering and enriching lessons for school coaches. Powerade has aimed much of its focus on high school coaches in recognition of their role as primary influencers of the next generation of South Africa’s sporting heroes.

Dick Muir, Simphiwe Dludlu, John McGrath and Sizwe Ndlovu took the coaches through critical aspects of coaching, on and off the field of play, at the KZN Academy.

Dick Muir, Former Springbok rugby player, ex Springbok and Sharks coach and Managing director of the Investec International Rugby Academy SA, spoke about why he is part of the Powerade Academy, “The biggest thing for me sharing knowledge with the coaches. Making them believe there is no such thing as a bad coach, just an ill-informed coach.” he said. “It’s important to invest in coaches because, through them, we are investing in our youth. Developing the knowledge of coaches is important in preparing kids at a young age.” Muir concluded.

Simphiwe Dludlu, SA U-17 Women’s Coach reflected on the teams 2019 U-17 Women’s World Cup experience. She inspired the coaches to build character in their teams. “I find it amazing that we expect players to perform in a certain way when we do not really know their characters and what they are mentally capable of. Everyone is born with a certain character; we need to understand the building blocks of character and how to influence a person’s character for the better.” she said.

Sizwe Ndlovu, 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist, spoke about what he called the new low. “It is important for people and coaches more especially to understand that when they reach a milestone, instead of saying that this is the highest they can reach, but rather  should look at the milestone and say this is my “new low” and I need to do better than this.”

Ndlovu continued narrating his journey to the coaches about his journey as an athlete and facing setbacks but never giving up.  He further explained how the concept of a new low helped him to surpass his goals.

John McGrath, a former strongman who is now a high performance business coach. McGrath tackled the mental side of preparing sports men and women,. “I was there to talk about “In shifting paradigms it is  about abandoning preconceived ideas that people have about their abilities and about what is conceived as a boundary,” he said.

McGrath illustrated practical examples of breaking boundaries by bending nails, breaking chains, tearing packs of cards and straightening a horseshoe. “These are all metaphors for what you can do and what is possible. I don’t expect all of the coaches to start bending nails but the coaches at the Powerade Performance Academy are there to learn how to make breakthroughs.”

“At Powerade Performance Academy you have coaches that have performed at a world class level and they are talking to coaches from all over South Africa and that is a price worth paying.” he said.

Coaching continues to be an ever-transforming discipline that incorporates innovative techniques and principles to improve performance. The Academy allowed the coaches from the various schools and sporting codes to go back to their respective schools in the spirit of “teach one, teach all’.

To connect the coaches across the country, Powerade has also introduced a Powerade Facebook Community called the Coaches Corner where coaches can interact and share their daily challenges and achievements with their peers. The next legs of Powerade Performance Academies will take place in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

For more information, visit Powerade Facebook page (@PoweradeZA) and #AlwaysForward. 

ENDS

Powerade continues Exclusive Performance Academy for Coaches

Annual seminar held to empower local coaches

Durban will be the first city to kick-start the 6^th annual Powerade Performance Academy for 2019. The academy sees expert performance coaches being part of an interactive session of empowering and enriching lessons for school coaches.

For the Durban Academy Dick Muir, John McGrath and Sizwe Ndlovu will be taking the coaches through critical lessons on how to tackle aspects of coaching on and off the field of play. Making a return this year, is SA U/17 Women’s Coach, Simphiwe Dludlu who will be inspiring the coaches to build character in their teams after she encouraged coaches to break down barriers in 2018.

As coaching continues to be an ever-transforming discipline that incorporates innovative techniques and principles to improve performance, the Academy will allow the coaches from the various school sporting codes to go back to their respective schools in the spirit of ‘teach one, teach all’.

Powerade is dedicated to finding ways to innovate and support sports men and women’s progression of active goals and has maintained its commitment to young South African sportsmen and sportswomen by providing them with the necessary platforms to achieve their ultimate sporting goals.  In line with this commitment, Powerade has aimed much of its focus on high school coaches in recognition of their role as primary influencers of the next generation of South Africa’s sporting heroes.

Kamini Redhi, Marketing Manager says, “Powerade aims to drive a coaching evolution in South Africa, ensuring that sports men and women are introduced to impactful training and benefits of proper hydration. Our purpose is to assist sports enthusiasts to always move forward and with this Academy we intend to create a path to an effective evolution in school sports. We trust that coaches will utilise this platform that we have established for them to learn and encourage one another for competitive fixtures amongst schools in South Africa.”

To connect the coaches across the country, Powerade has also introduced a Powerade Facebook Community called the Coaches Corner where coaches can interact and share their daily challenges and achievements with their peers. The next leg of Powerade Performance Academies will take place in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Johannesburg respectively.

For more information, visit Powerade Facebook page (@PoweradeZA) and #AlwaysForward. 

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Speakers for Performance Academy in Durban

Dick Muir: Former Springbok rugby player, ex Springbok and Sharks coach and Managing director of the Investec International Rugby Academy SA

Topic: Creating your own coaching and playing philosophies

Simphiwe Dludlu: Former Banyana Banyana captain, former Tuks Ladies Football Team Coach, U17 Women's National Team Head Coach and Founder & Chairman of The Simphiwe Dludlu Foundation

Topic: Character carries her

John McGrath: Luvo Manyonga’s high performance coach, World-renowned high-performance coach and last Strongman of Africa and Motivational speaker and performance artist

Topic: Shifting sports paradigms

Sizwe Ndlovu: 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist, Manager and coach of rowing at University of Johannesburg and Inspirational speaker

Topic: The New Low