Wrestling Federation Stoeifederasie

Transcription

1 SA Wrestling Federation Stoeifederasie Telefoon nommer (017) Posbus Faks nommer (011) Brakpan Noord Sel nommer (082) E-pos: 2014 Cadet Africa Championships May 2014 Report Compiled By: Gussie Bartlett Team Manager 2014 Cadet Africa Team

2 Index 1. Introduction 1.1. Wrestlers 1.2. Team Manager and Coaches 1.3. Official 1.4. CALA Members 1.5. Medical Delegation 1.6. Spectators 2. Preparation 2.1. Training 2.2. Administration 3. Championship 3.1. Accommodation 3.2. Wrestling and Training Venue 3.3. Medical, Weigh-in and Paring 3.4. Placing of SA Wrestlers Greco Roman Freestyle Woman 3.5. Team Placing Greco Roma Freestyle Woman 4. Finances 5. Acknowledgements Page 2 of 23

3 1. Introduction The South African Wrestling Federation s Coaches Council announced the team shortly after the Cadet and Junior trails was held in Pretoria, in March of For the first time in many years official trials were held on 3 rd of March 2014, in Gauteng North Wrestling Hall. This tournament replaced the Grading Championships which were held at the end of every year. The team was compiled without exception of wrestlers that won their respective weight categories in the trails. The trail system worked well and ensured that only the best cadet wrestlers were selected for the team and this was also reflected in the outstanding achievements reached by the team during the championships, which doubled as a qualification tournament for this year s Youth Olympic Games. Because of this, almost every wrestling countries in Africa sent their best wrestlers, ensuring larger participation at the event than in a non-olympic qualifying years. The team was comprised of the following members: 1.1. Wrestlers 42-46kg Jason Beukes (Boland) Greco Roman Team 50-54kg Theyman Jongbloed (Limpopo) Page 3 of 23

4 54-58kg Marnus van Rooyen (Gauteng North) 58-63kg Cameron Nel (Western Province) 63-69kg Roedie Roets (Limpopo) 69-76kg Johan Eybers (Western Province) Page 4 of 23

5 76-85kg Westley Butters (Gauteng North) kg Henk van Zyl (Limpopo) 0/42kg JJ Ludick (Gauteng North) Freestyle Team 42-46kg Nico van den Berg (Mpumalanga) Page 5 of 23

6 46-50kg Wihan van Schalkwyk (Mpumalanga) 50-54kg Reynhardt Louw (Gauteng North) 54-58kg Matthew Bartlett (Gauteng East) 58-63kg Elbert Steyn (Limpopo) Page 6 of 23

7 63-69kg Anthony Macgregor (Gauteng North) 69-76kg Roedie Roets (Limpopo) 76-85kg Westley Butters (Gauteng North) kg Henk Van Zyl (Limpopo) Page 7 of 23

8 52-56kg Monique Venter (Limpopo) 2014 Cadet Africa Championships Woman s Team 56-60kg Leanco Stans (Gauteng North) Brandon Kidson (Gauteng North) was selected in the original Greco Roman squad, in the weight 42 50kg, however shortly after the team was announced he withdrew for personal reasons. His withdrawal came as a surprise to all as he was one of the strong candidates to qualify for the Youth Olympic Games. Hopefully we will be seeing Brandon back on the mat very soon! Page 8 of 23

9 1.2. Team Manager and Coaches 2014 Cadet Africa Championships Team Manager Gussie Bartlett (Eastern Gauteng) Greco Coach (Assistant Coach) Juandre Fivaz (Mpumalanga) Free Style Coach Jan Roets (Limpopo) Freesteyle Coach Tubby van den Heever (Gauteng North) Page 9 of 23

10 Marius Geldenhuys (Western Province) was also selected as the senior Greco Roman coach to accompany the team, however he withdrew himself soon after the team was announced. The South African Wrestling Federations Coaches Counsel then appointed Tubby Van Den Heever as coach over both the Freestyle and Greco Roman Teams, as Juandre Fivaz was selected as assistant coach for the Greco Roman Team and they felt a more experienced coach was necessary to accompany Juandre Official Addie van Zyl, official from Limpopo was selected to accompany he cadet team and was also selected to stay on to officiate at the junior championship CALA Members Manie Van Den Berg Vice President of CALA and Secretary General of SAWF, joined us on the tour, in the capacity of spectator Medical Delegation Limpopo Wrestling Association in conjunction with the Limpopo Sports Council sponsored a physical therapist to accompany the team. Anneret van Zyl was without a doubt an enormous asset to the team. After seeing her in action and witnessing first-hand the enormous benefit of having a physical therapist on tour, I would recommend that no team should ever travel to big tournaments overseas without taking a physical therapist with. I for one would do everything possible, should I be selected as team manager again, to ensure that the team is accompanied by a physical therapist. Page 10 of 23

11 1.6. Spectators The team was joined by three more spectators: Mrs. Esmarie Stans, mother of one of our female wresters, Leanco Stans. Mr. Louis De Lange, president of the Limpopo Wrestling Association who was accompanied by Mr. Joe Simba, a representative of the Limpopo Sports Confederation. Page 11 of 23

12 2. Preparation 2.1 Training Besides the normal Wednesday national practice sessions that are held in all of the regions, two additional training camps were scheduled to prepare the team. The first camp was held over the Easter weekend, 18 th of April to the 20 th of April 2014, at Primrose Wrestling Club. Due to the nature of the weekend only the wrestlers from Gauteng North, Mpumalanga and Eastern Gauteng attended. The Limpopo Wrestling Association asked to be excused, due to the heavy traffic over Easter weekend in and out of Limpopo. A number of wrestlers also asked to be excused for religious reasons. This then prompted the South African Wrestling Federations Coaches Counsel to arrange for a second, compulsory training camp that was held at Boksburg Wrestling Club, exclusively for the cadet team, from the 9 th of May to the 11 th of May. Wrestlers from Limpopo and Cape provinces were given financial support to cover traveling costs and because of this, the camp was a huge success both from a training/preparation point of view, as well as team building. The team was definitely well prepared as far as fitness and technique was concerned. 2.2 Administration This being my first tour as team manager, I would like thank everyone for all the assistance. Whenever I had a question or was unsure about a specific aspect of the tour s administrations, I knew that the answer was only a phone call away. Page 12 of 23

13 The travel arrangements turned out to be my first obstacle as finding direct flights on the dates we (coaches and myself) had decided on, proved to be challenging for the travel agents I requested quotations from. The only direct flights available were through Cairo and the only return date available was the day after the competition, which meant the cost of staying an additional day would have been high. After shopping around and reviewing various options from several travel agents, it was decided that the best and most economical option was Qatar Airways flight via Doha into Alexandria. It was also recommended that flying in and out of Alexandria would be safer for the team due to political uncertainty in Egypt over the past few months. My final choice of travel agent was, Bertie Loubser from Travel Counsellors in Cape Town who was available 24/7 to sort the travel arrangements out. I arranged for all the team members to enjoy the privileges of the Orex Lounge while we were waiting for our connection flights. This was a huge hit with both the wrestlers and adults that was traveling with the team. Unfortunately the freestyle team had a four hour delay out of ORT airport, as the plain we were traveling in had a problem with the rear door that did not want to open. We were fortunate that the Egyptian visas was done at no cost and no unabridged birth certificates was required, this made obtaining the visas very easy. Arrangements with the Egyptian Wrestling Federation and Department of Sport, as well as the obtaining of the Fila licences was made by the SAWF Secretary General, Mr. Manie Van Den Berg. Communication with both parents and wrestlers posed an initial problem, and it took a while to get all the contact details for all concerned. I found that not all the provincial associations and clubs were passing on the information to the wresters and their parents, but once I had all the individual contact information the communication with the relevant parties improved tremendously. I also decided to make use of the popular social media Facebook to improve communication to the wresters and the wrestling public as a whole. I created a page for the team and posted all information, results, photos and videos there as well. Organising the clothes and travel bags for the team was also one of my responsibilities. The cadet team do not qualify for Protea Colours and therefore there is no standard off the shelf solution for the team clothing, this makes clothing costly and problematic, as everything needs to be co-ordinated and ordered timeously. I would highly recommend that the SAWF consider standardising the team clothing for the cadet teams. I felt it important to make an occasion of handing out the team clothing to the wrestlers and coaches, making it a prestige event, and something that the wrestler can look back on with pride later on in his wrestling career. The second training camp presented the perfect opportunity for just this occasion. I invited Mr Fred Nel, previous Springbok and national Page 13 of 23

14 coach to hand over the team clothing to each individual. He also gave a short talk on the honour of representing your country and what to expect up in Egypt. I also arranged for a professional photographer to come take photos of the team and individuals being handed their clothing. Page 14 of 23

15 3. Championship 3.1 Accommodation Originally we would have stayed at the Jeddah Hotel in Alexandria, initially I battled to get information anywhere regarding this hotel. I shared my concerns regarding the hotel with Mr. Manie van den Berg, and he approached the Fila organizers at the Senior Africa Championships in Tunisia, they gave him the assurance that the accommodation would be on standard and that we should not worry about it. Shortly after this conversation we got notification that the hotel that we will be staying in has been changed. We stayed at the five star Tolip Hotel in Alexandria, as far as the accommodation, service and food were concerned I could not find anything wrong. It was of outstandingly high quality. The Greco Roman team departed on the 15 th of May, a day earlier than the Freestyle and Woman s team, to give them an additional day to acclimatize and prepare for their weigh in on the 18 th of May. Juandre Fivaz and Tubby van den Heever, the two Greco Roman coaches accompanied the Greco Roman team. Even though written confirmation of both the team s arrival times, place and dates was sent to the Egyptian Wrestling Federation, there was no transport organised for the Greco Roman team and we had to pay and arrange our own transport to the hotel. Upon contacting the Egyptian Wrestling Federation at the time of the Greco Roman teams arrival in Alexandria, they apologised for the misunderstanding, as they confused our team s arrival with that of the Junior Teams arrival, confirmation was made that there will be transport arranged for the Freestyle and Woman s team. The two incidents that occurred while staying in the hotel were reported and handled. Page 15 of 23

16 3.2 Wrestling and Training Venue 2014 Cadet Africa Championships Transport was available to and from both the wrestling and training venues. The training venue was of very high standard although no bottled water was provided at any of the venues and had to be arranged and purchased by ourselves. The warm-up mat at the wrestling venue however was of very poor standard and hygiene. It was situated under a makeshift tent, the mats were not secured and moved around a lot. Access was not controlled to the area and besides being loose with gaps, it was also extremely dirty. By the second day of competition the entire area smelled of urine and was very unpleasant. The competition area and mats were well controlled and of a very high standard. The ventilation, seating, lighting and public announcement system were excellent, although the announcements on day one were not repeated in English. Mr. Manie van den Berg put in a formal request to the organisers to arrange announcements to be made in English as well. Bathroom facilities were available but hygiene was once again not high on the list of priorities. 3.3 Medical, Weigh-in and Paring The Greco Roman team medical and weigh-in was officially scheduled as follow: GR team Medical: GR team Weigh-In: Qualifying rounds: Finals: 17:30 to 18:15 on the 18 th May 18:30 to 19:00 on the 18 th May 10:00 to 13:00 on the 19 th May 19:30 to 21:30 on the 19 th May Page 16 of 23

17 The technical meeting was scheduled at the hotel to start at 3pm, I was concerned that I would not make it back to the competition venue in time for the medical and weigh-in and asked Mr. Manie Van Den Berg, to stand in for me should I not make it on time. The technical meeting was postponed as South Africa and Mauritius were the only countries that arrived on time. Eventually the two countries that were present was thanked for their presence and the meeting was adjourned before it could take place. I was subsequently late for medical but was present with the weigh-in. The medical and weigh-in took place as scheduled on the 18 th of May and went off without any significant challenges to the team. The Free Style and Woman team medical and weigh-in was officially scheduled as follow: LL & LF team Medical: LL & LF team Weigh-In: Qualifying rounds: Finals: 17:30 to 18:15 on the 19 th May 18:30 to 19:00 on the 19 th May 10:00 to 13:00 on the 20 th May 18:00 to 20:00 on the 20 th May These times however changed a number of times. The medical moved to before the official opening ceremony that started at 17:00, and the weigh-in was left to start at 18:30. All access to the competition area was closed off after the medical was completed and no starting time was supplied on the program that was supplied to us, for the finals of the Greco Roman competition. As the official time for the Greco Roman final was scheduled for 19:30 we prepared for weigh-in as three of the Greco Roman team members also took part in the Freestyle division and needed to weigh-in. It took us totally by surprise when we heard the announcement for the first of the Greco Roman Finals that took place directly after the opening ceremony. Although we were aware that they moved the 63-69kg and 69-73kg finals to be wrestled first and second (out of sequence) respectively, our wrestler for the 63-69kg was totally caught off guard with this sudden change in program. The organisers had no explanation for this when I enquired about the change in program and time lines, and wanted to continue with the rest of the finals, while weigh-in for the Freestyle and Woman competition took place simultaneously. I managed to stop this from happing by involving the Fila Official in charge, and all finals after the 63-69kg final was stopped and took place after weigh-in was completed. This however was too late for our chance in the 63-69kg final and sadly Roedie Roets lost his final match against Egypt. The weigh-in for the Freestyle and Woman competition was chaos. Late entries were prevalent, unregistered wrestler s Fila registrations posed a problem and needed to be sorted out. This was then reflected in the discrepancies between the final entries posted on the walls of the venue and the final entries after the pairing was completed. The freestyle competition went without incident and the following wrestlers were requested to undergo WADA testing: Page 17 of 23

18 Reynhardt Louw, Elbert Steyn and Leano Stans all three placed 1 st and qualified for the Youth Olympic Games. Final Pairing for all categories were as follow: Greco Roman Entries: Freestyle Entries: Page 18 of 23

19 Female Entries: 3.4 Placing of SA Wrestlers Greco Roman 46kg Jason Beukes (BOL) Silver 54kg Theyman Jongbloed (LIMP) Bronze 58kg Marnus van Rooyen (NG) Bronze 63kg Cameron Nel (WP) 4th Place 69kg Roedie Roets (LIMP) Silver 76kg Johannes Eybers (WP) Bronze 85kg Wesley Butters (NG) Bronze 100kg Henk van Zyl (LIMP) Silver Freestyle 42kg JJ Ludick (NG) Bronze 46kg Nico van den Berg (MPUM) Silver 50kg Wihan van Schalkwyck (MPUM) Gold 54kg Reynhardt Louw (NG) Gold 58kg Matthew Bartlett (EG) Silver 63kg Elbert Steyn (LIMP) Gold 69kg Anthony MacGregor (NG) Silver 76kg Roedie Roets (LIMP) Silver 85kg Wesley Butters (NG) Silver 100kg Henk van Zyl (LIMP) Silver Women 56kg Monique Venter (LIMP) Silver 60kg Leanco Stans (NG) Gold Page 19 of 23

20 3.5 Team Placing Greco Roman Our Greco Roman team places second overall, taking in consideration that we did not enter a full team, it was an excellent achievement. Out of the eight wresters seven qualified for the Cadet World Championships, unfortunately no Greco Roman wrestler managed to qualify for the Youth Olympic Games. We had just the one injury, which occurred during the practice session on the day of the Greco Roman weigh-in. Cameron Nel was very unfortunate to injury his shoulder during this session, and even though he participated and wrestled his heart out, his fourth place is not a true reflection of his abilities, but rather a sad result of his injury. Page 20 of 23

21 3.5.2 Freestyle Our Free Style team managed to beat Egypt in their own back yard! We took top honours in the team competition and brought home a fist place trophy. Two of the freestyle wresters manage to qualify for the Youth Olympic Games, Reinghardt Louw and Elbert Steyn. All ten of the freestyle team members also qualified for the Cadet World Championships in accordance with the SAWF guidelines. There was one injury during the competition, Matthew Bartlett injured his knee in his semi-final match, he showed great courage and wrestled very well in his final despite losing the match Women We only had two women wresters in the team and therefore placed sixth overall. Leanco Stans qualified for the Youth Olympic Games and both the woman wrestlers qualified for the Cadet World Championships. Page 21 of 23

22 6. Finances 2014 Cadet Africa Team Finances 15/5/ 14 16/5/ 14 17/5/ 14 18/5/ 14 19/5/ 14 20/5/ 14 21/5/ 14 22/5/ 14 23/5/ 14 24/5/ 14 GR & Official Departing ORT LL & LF Departing ORT Official Arrival LL & LF Arrival Officials Course Medical & Weigh GR Medical & Weigh LF & LL. Competition GR Competition LF &LL. GR Departing EBH LL. & LF Dep. EBH Jr. Africa Jr. Africa Official & Jr. Team Dep. EBH Fila Licence Emergency Fund Orex Lounge Connection flights Flight Admin. Fee Cash Deposit Fees Actual Cost Budgeted Tour Cost and Actual Amount Paid Difference to be paid back LUDICK, JJ R R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R VD BERG, Nico R R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R VAN SCHALKWYK, Wihan R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R LOUW, Reynhardt R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R BARTLETT, Matthew R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R STEYN, Elbert R R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R MACGREGOR, Anthony R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R ROETS, Roedie (GR & LL.) R R R R R R R R R R R 18, R R BUTTERS, Wesley (GR & LL.) R R R R R R R R R R R 18, R R VAN ZYL, Henk (GR & LL.) R R R R R R R R R R R 18, R R BEUKES, JASON (BOL) R R R R R R R R R R R 18, R R JONGBLOED, Theyma R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R VAN ROOYEN, Marnus R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R NEL, Cameron R R R R R R R R R R R 18, R R EYBERS, Johan R R R R R R R R R R R 18, R R VENTER, Monique R R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R STANS, Leanco R R R R R R R R R R 16, R R ROETS, Jan R R R R R R R R 0.00 R R R R R R 20, R R VD HEEVER, Tobby R R R R R R 0.00 R R R R R 17, R R FIVAS, Jeandrè R R R R R 0.00 R R R R R 16, R R BARTLETT, Gussie R R R R R 0.00 R R R R R 15, R R VD Berg, Manie R R R R R 0.00 R R R R R 15, R R VAN Zyl, Adam R R R R R R R R R 0.00 R R R R R R 22, R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R 401, R R Page 22 of 23

23 7. Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to especially thank two people for assisting me from day one: Mr. Manie van den Berg, Secretary General of the South African Wrestling Federation, who not only helped me in the pre tour administration and answered all my questions with patience and understanding, but also for his assistance while on tour, drawing my attention to a number of small, but very important factors, that would have taken any other newbie a number of tours to figure out. It was a huge pleasure and privileged to have him not only as a spectator but also a wise mentor on the tour with me. Secondly I would like to thank my husband and SAWF treasurer, Mr. Shaun Bartlett, for all his assistance, advice and my go-between to the parents in South Africa, while in Egypt. Thanks we make a great team! To Limpopo Wrestling Association in conjunction with the Limpopo Sports Confederation, once again a huge thank you for arranging and sponsoring the physical therapist for the tour, in my point of view an absolute necessity for any tour. It is also with great gratitude that I would like to acknowledge the South African Wrestling Federation s coaches counsel, in particular Mr. Nico Coetzee for preparing the team so well for this once in a life time opportunity. To all the parents; I was warned beforehand that getting information, payments and documentation from the wresters and parents is a painful and tedious task, I however have no idea what this warning was about. The information, documentations and payments was always on point, in time and correct. Thank you very much, I said it before and will say it again; you absolute rocked!!! And finally to the wrestlers, it was the greatest privilege to have each and every one of you as a team member of this team. I enjoyed every moment of the tour and loved getting to know you as a person and wrester. You are our sport s champions and future! Please remember you are young and every moment on the mat and on tour is a building block towards the biggest achievement a sportsman can achieve, and that is to represent his or her country at an Olympic Games. Stay focused and most important stay in love with our beautiful sport WRESTLING!! You are indeed Champions! Regards Gussie Bartlett Team Manager Cadet Africa Championships Page 23 of 23