King pair in line for top sports award
TWO King William’s Town residents may stand a chance to see their passion for sport rewarded at an awards ceremony hosted by the Eastern Cape provincial department of sport, recreation, arts and culture (Dsrac) in Port Elizabeth on Friday.
A media briefing ahead of the event was held at Steve Biko Centre in Ginsberg last week, where Dsrac member of the executive council Bulelwa Tunyiswa addressed the audience.
The MEC said the awards ceremony was being staged in recognition of excellence in sport and to honour individuals, clubs and federations who had excelled in their respective disciplines.
Breidbach senior Sydney Meyer was nominated for Sportsman of the Year – Golden Age – while Desmond Coetzee was nominated for the Recreation Volunteer for Indigenous Games award.
Meyer, 71, is a 100m sprint athlete and will attend the ceremony for the second consecutive year. “I attended the ceremony last year and, to be honest, it was an experience I’ll always treasure,” he said.
Coetzee is the provincial Indigenous Games Drie Stokkies coach and has mentored the province’s youngest ever athlete, Dellarise Christian, 12, who attended the national Indigenous Games tournament hosted in Limpopo last year.
This year, all three of his athletes ended in the top positions at the provincial Indigenous Games held in East London recently.
“The news came to me as a huge surprise as I never imagined I’d be recognised for an award,” said Coetzee.
“What motivates me to carry on is when I see the enthusiasm of my athletes to grab the opportunities we never had before.”
King William’s Town Master’s Football Association president Vumani Mazwi said: “It just shows that hard work pays off.
“Congratulations to Des, our match and registration official, for flying the flag for us.”