Zwide school receives multi-sport clay court

In the spirit of recently celebrated Mandela month, United Through Sport (UTS) South Africa has left a lasting impression on Zwide’s Isaac Booi Primary School by building the school’ s first multi-sport clay court.

The school received a sporting tune-up to the value of R380,000 last week, and were selected on the basis of being an anchor school of United Through Sport’s Junior School of Excellence (JSE) Programme.

The programme identifies – and nurtures – pupils between the ages of 11 and 13, who have the ability and determination to excel. It provides them access to extra curricular education, sports coaching and personal development at afterschool classes.

UTS director, Nick Mould, said the 680m² multi-sport court was supported by The Swartkops Terminal PTY (Ltd).

“Making a sustainable difference in communities where UTS works, is a core priority and we believe this multi-sport court will continue to offer children a safe place to play sport – for years to come as a legacy project.

“The court not only benefits our programmes we run at the school, but it is also there for the enjoyment and benefit of all learners at the school as well as the local community,” Mould said.

Isaac Booi principal Ludwe Memese said the court afforded them the opportunity of introducing new sporting codes and activities to pupils and the community at large

“We are the first, if not the only school with such a facility in the township. This would help market the school to neighbouring schools. It will enable the learners not only to be keen to participate in the sports they are familiar with, but also learn to play tennis which is a rarity in our communities,” Memese said.

A parallel JSE Programme is run at Astra Primary School, where a multi-purpose astroturf, used for hockey and soccer training, was built and launched on Mandela Day in 2016.