Sport administrators in the Eastern Cape are hopeful that the newly-launched Sarah Baartman District Academy of Sport will be an incentive and keep the local talent in the region. The academy, which is based in Makhanda, will act as a feeder to the provincial academy programmes.
As a start, selected sportsmen and women from different sporting codes will receive specialised training and nutrition tips from Eastern Cape Sport Academy of Sport coaches, who will be assisted by experts from Rhodes University.
Makhanda sports administrator, Maasdorp Cannon, says this is good news for the region.
“Some of the athletes’ monthly stipends are coming now from the academy. The budget of the Eastern Cape Sports Academy which is based in the Nelson Mandela University,” says Cannon.
