AFTER ten years of inactivity the Algoa Park Amateur Wrestling Club is well and alive again.
“It’s fantastic to be active again. I’m over the moon with the remarkable progress we showed in such a small space of time,” a jubilant president, Johan Grobler, said.
When it was decided to restart the club, Grobler was elected at the end of 2022 to lead the club into the future.
“In 2023 we started the engine with great success and immediately saw awesome results from athletes who are desperate to succeed and show their class at national level.
“We currently have 80 wrestlers that include juniors, seniors and one master who train with huge enthusiasm in the Pieter Rademeyer hall.
“Almost half of our athletes are girls – most of them are just brilliant. The talent is remarkable,” Grobler said.
At last year’s South African championships in Stellenbosch Algoa Park was represented by 25 girls who stunned the spectators with a classy performance.
“They were so good that they finished second out of all the provinces in really strong competition,” a proud Grobler said.
Algoa Park also produced 14 national champions last year which Grobler described as “phenomenal”.
Up-and-coming star Kay “Lollie” Terry is just 16 years old, but already a junior and senior South African champion.
“The sky is the limit for this young star,” Grobler said as she narrowly missed out on a chance to represent South Africa at the Africa Championships.
“Her second place when she was just beaten on points will make her determined to reverse the result next time.”
Another star is young Stefan Roberts, who was entered in six divisions at the SA Championships.
“Stefan was outstanding to win five medals in six divisions. This is an absolutely fantastic performance,” Grobler remarked.
Roberts also came out tops in the U/13 and U/15 divisions.
He was also named EP’s male wrestler of the year with KayDee Spinks, the top girl’s athlete in the province. Spinks won a gold and silver medal at the nationals.
With nine qualified coaches, it comes as no surprise that Algoa Park is flexing its muscles again.
They are Lionel Botha, Wouter Nell, Johan Grobler, Andre Claassen, Marius Rosslee and JP Botha, while Jessica Landman leads the female coaches alongside Bernadette Klinkhardt and Kathleen Myburgh.
Grobler also pointed out that finances always play a crucial role in amateur sport and therefore he and his executive highly appreciate the support of BTD (Bay Tool Makers), ABC Glass and Supamix.
, The Algoa Park Club was originally established in 1973 by Hannes van Rensburg when they started training in the Danie du Toit primary school.
, Van Rensburg and Leslie van der Westhuizen became Springboks, while other big names include Wouter Nell, Bobby Dyer, Morné Dorfling, Louis Snyman, Willie van Niekerk (Africa champ), Ndiliseko Bangani, Seyabolelo Boy and Jandré Allers.
, Some of these were national champions and were also on the winning side against the touring Americans.
