Introducing a fitness culture to the community
An organisation in White Location, Knysna was brought to life recently and has the aim of instilling a “fitness culture” in its community, starting off with teaching the youth of the area that “your body is a temple”.
Bethwell Mene and Themba Bosman – both born and bred in the area – have created the Bright Shining Minds (BSM) Sports Development Agency to plough back into their community in some way, and both have a bold vision when it comes to their initiative. “We want to get the kids out of the streets and create a fitness culture among them,” says Mene, who is a professional bodybuilder. Bosman adds: “We believe that sports and fitness is the beginning of everything that most people want in life – health, vitality, beauty, strength, confidence and self-respect.”
The two men left the town after finishing their schooling and it was only in Cape Town that they would meet. Mene is a sports science graduate, and Bosman is extremely passionate about developing his community. “When we were both back in Knysna again, Bethwell came to me with the concept and I thought it was great. He usually comes to me with the ideas, and together we expand it and push to make it successful,” Bosman says.
Mene says the initiative kicked off in September when he and Bosman returned to Mene’s alma mater, Percy Mdala High School. “There we had the students and teachers participate in a fitness programme. This was an after-school programme where all athletes from the different sports codes were invited to participate in the training,” says Mene, with Bosman adding that the participants displayed much excitement during the programme. ‘Developing sporting talent’
But BSM does not only focus on fitness, says Mene. “We also want to expose the sporting talent in town and develop these children to their full potential. We are currently reaching out to sports clubs (rugby, soccer and athletics) in Johannesburg so we can eventually expose our local athletes to a bigger world of possibilities,” he says.
“The exercises used are aimed at fitness and agility which will be a great foundation for any sport the kids want to play… It will assist in their development too,” Mene adds.
It all comes down to the community’s health and the extreme lack of knowledge there exists among its members, Mene says. “Experts like me need to equip the community with knowledge. I believe this will also help to combat the issue of obesity in our area,” he says. Every exercise and information session BSM holds, Mene says, is based on the research he did in Cape Town. “The exercises used are aimed at fitness and agility which will be a great foundation for any sport they want to play… It will assist in their development too.
Currently, the agency is using an open plot of land in the community and have about 40 primary and high-school children who join them for training from Monday to Thursday.
During a visit to one of these sessions one could see the programme has already made an impact. Youths give an emphatic “Yes, coach!” to every instruction Mene gives, while Bosman has the little ones jumping around doing aerobics.
Mene and Bosman are open to assistance and involvement from anyone who would like to get involved. For further details contact Mene on 071 770 6967 / 071 150 0471 or bsmsports1@ gmail.com