DESPITE the fact that COVID-19 brought the programme to a halt for the better part of 2020, a group of young archers have managed to make it from development to tournament level.
PE Express previously reported that Woolhope Secondary School’s archery programme, which grew from humble beginnings, received a massive haul of archery equipment from the Department of Education and the South African National Archery Association (SANAA) in 2020.
“Due to COVID-19, our programme came to an immediate halt for almost 10 months. We regrouped our team and started training again with Eastern Cape Archery development officer, Mahendra Naidoo,” said Abdullatief September, an educator and the archery co-ordinator at the school in Malabar.
He said it was important for the school to establish an archery programme, as it provided learners with social, physical and mental fortitude.
The training of school coaches and the development of learners at Woolhope Secondary, Nasruddin Islamic High School and Nizamiye Al Azhar Institute, began in August 2019, and weekly lessons and coaching started in February 2020.
According to September, when they resumed training this year, Naidoo came from Makhanda every second Saturday to coach them.
“Together with Riyaad Hendricks, the community coach, our squad were ready to host our very first 10m elimination tournament. This meant that after each game the loser got knocked out of the competition.
“Scores were tight and nerves high, which led to exhilarating matches between archers. The final game was between two Woolhopians, Juandre Maart and Salmaan Abrahams.”
In the end Salmaan took the gold and Juandre the silver. Tristan Smith from Bethelsdorp High came third and collected bronze.
“Our development team is again busy training for our next event that will take place on Saturday, June 26.
“We currently have three participating schools, namely Woolhope, Nasruddin and Bethelsdorp High. We are calling on schools in the metro to join us,” September said.
- For more info contact coach Abdullatief September on 071 240 2668 (WhatsApp), Mahendra Naidoo (ECAA development officer) on 082 923 6666 or community coach Riyaad Hendricks on 081 393 1049.
