Trends

SA embrace the American sports

America is the most technically advanced country in the world. It’s also the most powerful and richest. This is reflected in American sports. The US has the most complex games, the richest sports stars and the best facilities for spectators and TV viewers in the world. Interestingly, America’s major sports like American football are not played anywhere else in the world.

American sports like softball and baseball are, however, gaining ground in SA.

“I think baseball has really made inroads in South Africa,” says Baseball SA executive director Edwin Bennett. “We have introduced 1 100 primary schools to the sport since the start of the programme in 1998. We have also distributed equipment throughout the country as part of that programme.”

Rural areas and schools growth points

According to Bennett a memorandum of understanding has been signed by the Ministers of Sport and Recreation and the Department of Education to promote the sport as a priority sport in schools. “Every December we have a schools’ competition — the School Summer Games — where all the nine provinces get together to compete in various sporting codes in the different divisions i.e. U13, U15 and U17. Baseball and softball are two of the codes.”

Bennett says their main target audience has been people in rural areas, more so than in the cities, and as a result the sport has been introduced to both boys and girls from formerly disadvantaged backgrounds. “We’ve seen some good progress in the last couple of years. We’ve gone from six regions in 1998 to at least 16 now.

They now play in Bhizana, Kokstad, Mount Frere, Mdantsane, Mthatha, George, De Aar, Colesberg, Upington, Boland, Seshego, Limpopo, Kagiso, Klerksdorp, Orlando, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Pinelands and the old traditional region of Cape Town.

In KwaZulu Natal Durban has a very strong school programme. “Our next task now is to look for big young men and the only place to go is Ulundi,” he says.

The Western Cape is still the strongest province because of the long history that disadvantaged communities in that part of the world share with baseball.

Says Bennett: “We started baseball in 1984 in the Cape, while Durban and Gauteng started in 1983. Before then, it was a sport only for white people. There was a federation for white people and one for black people. In 1992 we amalgamated the two federations and as a result, one national sport congress was moulded.”

The various regions run their own leagues, not the national federation. Some of the regions that are active in baseball are Boland, Western Province, Eastern Province, Gauteng, Gauteng North, South West Gauteng, OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo, Amathole, North West, KwaZulu Natal and the Northern Cape.

American teams sign local players

Bennett says they have also been encouraged by the scattered evidence of growing interest by American teams in signing local South African players. “Yes, under our wing the sport is only played at amateur level, but some of our youth get selected and they get contracts to go and play professionally overseas. In the last three to four months we’ve had three young men signed by overseas teams. Gift Ngoepe joined Pirates while Hein Robb was snapped up by Minnesota Twins and Dillan Lindsay signed with KC Royal.

SA put up a great performance at the recent World Baseball Classic. “We competed for the first time and we held our own very well against the best in the world. I mean, guys who earn R20-m while we play amateur. We had to shine. I think we are going to go very far,” Bennett explains.

SA has been invited to take part in the tournament for the second time. About 13 countries play baseball in Africa and SA is ranked number one on the continent.

On the other hand, softball is king in many communities across the country, according to Softball SA president Guillo Marapjane.

“Indeed softball has shown phenomenal growth since 1992. For example, in the Eastern Cape we have made great inroads into introducing softball, especially in the rural areas of the province. It has also grown in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Western Cape. It’s still a bit of a mission in the rural areas of KwaZulu Natal, but in the urban areas of the province softball is very much alive.”

Says Marapjane: “Come next season, you’ll see many players coming out of the Gauteng area. The biggest growth has been in the Eas-tern Cape for both sexes, while the strongest provinces so far have been the Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo. KwaZulu Natal is strong on the men’s side.”

Cecilia Viljoen, owner of Softball & Sport SA — distributor of international baseball and softball brands like Rawlings, Worth etc. — says this development growth is evident by the fact that stores buy a lot of entry level gloves. She says that she recently sold at least 345 bats for use in the Limpopo area alone.

“Every child wants a bat, a glove and a ball. Aluminium bats are quite popular. People of all races buy equipment. We now even get orders from as far as Durban, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, which tells you that, no doubt, things are looking up. The trend is similar with baseball — just different balls.”

Unlike in countries like New Zealand, Japan, Canada and the US where the sport is played professionally, softball is still an amateur sport in SA. Softball SA runs the national programme for the sport and this includes the national championships that take place in March every year. According to Marapjane the tournament rotates among the provinces and this year it was held in Johannesburg, while next year it goes to East London in the Eastern Cape.

“We run the U16, U19 and U23 structures nationally,” says Marapjane. “The issue of national leagues has been going on for some time. We are trying very hard to get that off the ground.”

Team SA (men and women) reigns supreme in softball on the African continent, which further proves that Marapjane and Co. have found the right formula for the development of the sport in SA.

SA is rated #8 internationally, which is no small feat considering that the team goes against the toughest competition internationally, like pro’s from the US, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Japan.

At this rate, its clear that softball has a rosy the future in SA.

Luring youngsters back to basketball

While basketball is said to be growing internationally, it appears that the trend is not the same here in South Africa. Basketball was the fastest growing sport in SA in the mid-’90s, but the sport is not that popular any more. Most youngsters today don’t have the passion for basketball that was there 15 years ago. Basketball seems to have missed the present generation of high school kids — but, plenty is being done to attract the youth back to the game.

Cabby Magongwa, who runs DarkChild Productions (a basketball marketing company) is on a passionate mission to make sure that the sport makes headlines again. He uses the universal youth language — music — to present fun-filled, crowd-pleasing basketball-fests. Apart from promoting basketball through tournaments, he has also brought back the basketball shoe brand, And1, to SA.

“Basketball is something exciting for the kids,” says Magongwa, clearly excited by the prospects of turning the urban youth into basketball fans. “The only problem is that in SA basketball has not been administered properly in the past.

“I believe that what has plagued the sport and hampered development is lack of expertise — and perhaps time — in the democratically elected associations at grassroots level. With these functions now outsourced to private, and therefore profit-making companies, such as Pro Sport Consulting and DarkChild Productions, the playing field has now changed and the sport has now become a business, something that sponsorship companies understand.”

The SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) last October restructured the Basketball SA federation, following complaints of financial mismanagement, and things have been going smoothly since then, says Magongwa.

Third most popular amongst black males

He goes on to say that according to the 2005 BMI Sport Info research report, basketball was the third biggest sport — after soccer and road running — among black SA males. The sport was played by at least 305 000 black adults, 59 000 white adults, 33 000 coloured and 15 000 Indians — a total of 413 000 SA adults. Between 2004-2005 the sport experienced growth of 6.6% from one year to the next. (Unfortunately, later sport participation research is not available).

Magongwa says the highest number of people who currently play basketball are at school. One of the main challenges that face the sport is the fact that many high schools lack quality coaches.

The Gauteng Basketball League is the biggest and best performing in the country. The Gauteng league boasts some 52 teams and at least 780 players. The sport is also big in Durban and Cape Town especially on the seniors’ side. The junior development structures are strongest in Tshwane and Limpopo.

Magongwa adds that efforts are under way to turn the sport into a professional business. “Basketball is currently only an amateur sport in SA, but a company known as PBL has been commissioned to solicit sponsorships, so that we can make it a professional sport. We’ll just have to wait and see how that goes.”

With SA still looking to re-establish consistency in the high level of basketball leagues and tournaments, it continues to struggle internationally. In the latest tournament held in Mozambique in April 2009, SA beat Mozambique by two points in their first encounter, and later lost by nine points to Mozambique in the finals. The points difference qualified Mozambique to compete in the 2009 Africa Nations Championship.

The big difference between the two countries is the experience and consistency of play provided by the Mozambican professional league, compared to amateur leagues in SA. With the GBL on the rise, this is soon to change, predicts Magongwa.