TABLE OF CONTENTS

BOKSBURG ATHLETICS CLUB ................................................................................................................... 2

HISTORY OF BOKSBURG ATHLETICS CLUB .............................................................................................. 2
CURRENT STATUS AND ACTIVITIES ......................................................................................................... 4
NEEDS ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................... 6
RECOMEMDATIONS ................................................................................................................................ 9
REFERENCE ............................................................................................................................................ 10
STUDENT NUMBER: 0010014648
COURSE: INFS 1 01
ASSIGNMENT NO 1

BOKSBURG ATHLETICS CLUB

HISTORY OF BOKSBURG ATHLETICS CLUB
Boksburg Athletic Club is not just a running club. It is an institution stepped in rich history. Since its
inception, the club has always come out on top, because its members are filled with passion,
enthusiasm and commitment to a single goal fostering the spirit of athletics in all spheres of life.
Boksburg athletic club is comprised of many different facets and a wide variety of people from all
parts of the population. This meeting attended by 81 people was chaired by Mr I Kramer and it was
here that the club’s constitution was compiled and the office bearers of the first committee were
elected. Tommy Malone, the selected chairman of the club memorable said there are going to be a
problem in the future but success lies on the team spit of the club. The club will last as talent in
Boksburg is unlimited.by a show of hand, the members agreed that the membership fees for the
club would be R6 for adults and R2 for junior (Boksburg athletics club 2023).

The legend and first chairperson Tommy Malone

Not long after establishing themselves as a functioning athletics club, BAC sought the permission of
Transvaal provincial Administration to hold the Blood Hill Blitz, a Wednesday evening race now
considered to be the oldest time trial in South Africa. The Transvaal Provincial Admiration granted
them permission, but based on certain conditions. They would need to stop running half an hour
after sunset, meaning that the Blitz would have start at 17:30 and not at 18:00. Also due to time
limits, the runners would only able to run the 5km distance and not the 8 km. not fazed by the
conditions, BAC launched their Blood Hill Blitz and it has been a firm favourite of club members ever
since.

Some may remember that it was during this early era of amateur sport that most sporting codes did
not allow female participation. For this reason, Boksburg decided that, although their female
counterparts could not participate in the actual events, the club would endeavour to include them as
much as possible. Thankfully, those days are gone and women are now fully entitled to participate in
all form of sport.
Once the sporting barriers were removed, women no longer stood the side of the road but actively
took part in the different events. The club saw some great female athletes emerge during the next
few decades, such as Shelley van der Spuy, Carolyn Ridgway, Lucinda newbie, but for many in the
club, the concern about bans against female athletes was a mere drop of water in what later
become a huge reservoir of concern. The early 80s would prove to be the most historic and troubled
era for the club in its short history. It is often said that the true character of someone emerges not in
times of success, but in times of struggle. This sentiment was echoed in Tommy Melone’s first
speech as club president, a speech in which he claimed that there would be a problem in the future
but the success of the club would lie in the team spirit within the club.

In February 1980, Boksburg Athletic Club made a historic move and relocated their headquarters.
Their move was inspired not by a desire for new location but because they could no longer stay in an
area in which the conservative Party had banned whites from using municipal facilities for either
competitions or training. The club had become the first victim of Boksburg Town Council’s
controversial sports policy. In response to intense pressure from the local community, BAC issued a
press release that read:” one of aims and objectives of Boksburg Athletic Club, as stated in its
constitution, is to ensure that there shall be no hindrance to individual members on racial, political
or any other grounds. As such, the club is the first in the Transvaal to encourage club membership
and participation in athletics by athletes of all races. The club has decided to move its base away
from Prince George Park as a result of the actions taken by the Boksburg Town Council in denying
our black athletes the use of the training facilities.”

Despite BAC’s best efforts to keep the club together, there was a palpable uneasiness within the
ranks. The decision to hold all training sessions, races and meetings at venues free of town
interference and to take a stand against Apartheid was met with applause by some and with
discontent by others. The Club was breaking apart at the seams. The name of club also came into
question. While some members felt that the best way to fight Apartheid was to keep the club’s
name and stand firm on the established constitution.

BAC left Prince George Park and found Parkdale Primary, which, for the Wednesday night Blitz.
Although these measures cost the club financially and were inconvenient, the club was determined
to stay in Boksburg and abide by its constitution to foster athletics amongst people of all races. They
would continue to oppose any moves from any quarter to deny this right. But the point that politics
and sport should never be separated was driven home at a later stage when a breakaway faction,
comprised of the club’s leading black runners, formed the East Rand Athletics Club. The black
runners were under severe pressure in the township because they insisted on competing in their
Back Colours, so they decided to form a club with their own identity. The athletes were quoted as
saying, “we left because of politics nothing more.”

Over the years, BAC have formed many wonderful traditions, including the Bingo Evening,
Chairman’s Breakfast, Aches and Pains and dinner dances, which have become the backbone of the
social calendar. Every Wednesday night, after the Blitz, the Club hosts the finish line Pub. Families
and friends meet to laugh and a relaxed evening together. Estelle Burmeister, Diane Snyders and
Sheree Rggers ensure there is always good food on offer and each week members look forward to a
new menu. Wednesday night bar duties are shared amongst committee members. The atmosphere
of BAC is one in which runners get lost friendly banter, heart laughter and a sense of overall
happiness that rare as this wonderful club. The people who frequent the pub on a Wednesday night,
are the same people who fought for many years to see the club stay true to its constitution and who
never gave up on the dream to foster sport in all spheres. If you haven’t yet experienced the
Wednesday night blitz and make your way to Boksburg.
Some of the more memorable coaches who train track athletes are Pikkie Van Zyl, Sonette Sanders,
Charrel Blignaut and Monique Gibbs. All the coaches are affiliated to Central Gauteng Athletics. The
cross country section of the club has been extremely well represented over the past few years by
Trevor Therein, and for the past 20 years by Willie Maisela.This section also boasts talented runners
like lan Morshead who has won the Rhodes Trial a number of times. It is a strong arm of the true
backbone to a great Comrades Marathon.

The club’s speed comes from track sessions, held every Tuesday at the City Stadium
from18:00.These sessions have been coached and run by Steve de Bod since the inception of the
club 34 years ago. Steve has a wealth of information and knowledge and guarantees runners a
personal best in an upcoming race, if they are willing to stick with his track sessions for more than a
month. BAC is also known for its Mine Dumps Run, which takes place every Saturday from Farrar
Park Caf? Off Rondebult Road. For those who have never run on or experienced the true beauty of
the South Africa mine dumps, this is training run is strongly recommended, and one which runners
will need to do quickly, before this mine dump like the, disappears into the landscape.

The late Jimmy Perkins measured an 8km loop that would be run eight times, hence the name,
Percy’s Punisher. Another tradition to emerge from this group has been the Christmas Day Duck
Run. This sees runners racing to the lake, feeding the ducks and then running home again. The
Falcon Crest Flyers meet at the Falcon Crest Garage on Trichardt Road and run the same type of pace
as the Plodders but have different ‘quality’ sessions built in to their morning training routes. It is for
this reason that they are perceived as slightly more serious than the plodders. They do, however
apply a standard ‘go back and fetch rule.

The vision that Tommy Malone and other founding members originally wished for has definitely
come to pass in a club that boasts three very strong disciplines, road running track and cross
country. The current strength of the junior track athletes is phenomenal with many of these young
athletes going on to represent Gauteng at SA Club Championships as well as at school level. At
present, Boksburg has a group of athletes who are performing well above expectations. Robert Hill
and Andrew Rood took third place in the 800m at SA Championships. Megan Williams and Shannon
Freeman took gold in the high jump. These youngsters are but a few of upcoming talents in the
junior [u/19] categories

CURRENT STATUS AND ACTIVITIES

As previously started when discussing Boksburg Athletic Club’s history, Boksburg has four different
training groups which cater for all forms of road running. These groups go buy various nicknames
which have been formed over the years. The Parkland Plodders, the most historic of the groups, was
the founding running group in the club and most of the members who served on the committees in
the early years ran in this group. It is within this group that a number of current club traditions
emerged, such as porky’s punisher, a 64km training run that takes place six weeks before comrades.
Boksburg athletic club, weekly time trial results, Athletes compete in these time trials to secure the
fastest time. The time trials take place every Wednesday at 18:00at Jimmy Camwood Park in
Boksburg’s south.

Brian’s Break, run by Brian McCrindle, is an evening session for those who wish to train on hills,
more specifically, on the only hill on Boksburg. This session is run up and down Rondebult Road and
provides hard and fast comrades runners with a much needed hill training session and quality work.
Last but not least is fast and frank, the group with the name that says it all. The group trains with
silver in mind. Whether it’s silver at two Oceans, silver at comrades or silvering any other race, the
group primarily focuses on long distance speed. They are coached and mentored by Frank da
Ascension, a man with no less than 20 comrade’s silvers to his name. The average pace is below five
minutes per km and they are firm believers in the motto: rest when it rain

Cameron Alexander, O’Bakeng Molopyane and Andre Smit are performing exceptionally well in the
youth [u/16-u/17] categories. In the sub [u/9-u/15], Carmel Perusal was selected for the SA youth
Championship 2009 and was voted the second best male athlete in central Gauteng Primary Schools
in 2008. Kayla Koch, Dean Koch, Joni Baden host, Titian Devenish and Tiana Seen Kamp were all
selected for the Central Gauteng Inter Provincial Team in November 2008.

Striders read race 2019 Weekly time trials 2023

Mention running in the company of Anne Kouvarellis, and you will soon find yourself running in her
group. Anne is one of the few women in the country who has completed 23 Comrades Marathon.
Anne is the ultimate running ‘mother’ as many great runners start their careers in this group. Anne
nature and looks after her runners until they ‘grow wings’, then she lets go and watches with great
pride as they fly high (Lisa 2021). Lesley Train began her running days in this group, under the careful
watch of many senior group members.
NEEDS ANALYSIS
In order to understand the current and future needs of the Boksburg Athletics club, it was
paramount to get a detailed first persona view. A survey was then conducted to capture as much
information as possible. Questionnaires were used as a tool to capture data for the interview
(Darlene 2022). After being in contact with most of the coaches, trainers, different members of stuff
and the athletes, some of the needs were identified.

For disclaimer purposes, the interviewees were asked to stay anonymous. The data collected was
tabulated for easy and comprehensive analysis. Seven questions were asked, and the number of
answers graded according to the questionnaire. The total number of stuff members questioned was
10. The total number of athletes of questioned were twenty. The same questionnaire was use for
both athletes and members of stuff. the population was randomly sampled to reduce bias and
increases the precision of the results

Table 1: RESULTS FROM STUFF MEMBER QUESTIONNAIRES.

Question Yes No Uncertain

Q1.Are the facilities 5 3 2

and equipment
sufficient for training
athletes?
Q2Is the number of 4 6 0
athletes enrolling
progressing?
Q3.Are the number of 2 7 1
trained stuff adequate
enough to sustain the
current athletes?
Q4.Is the number of 4 3 3
young athletes
increasing?
Q5.Is the sporting club 7 2 1
expanding?

Q6.Does the athletics 5 5 o

club win
competitions?
Q7.Does the club 2 7 1
learn from its
mistakes?
 BAR GRAPH 1: RESULTS FROM STUFF MEMBER
QUESTIONNAIRES
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Q1 Q2 Q 3: Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7

YES NO UNCERTAIN

From table 1 and graph 1 above, it is fairly clear that, even though a high number of stuff members
were not satisfied with the progress of the club. The athletic club lacks a great deal of young
athletes, that can be trained and given room to develop their potential. The club has need to recruit
younger athletes. The enrolment of the club has also reduced based on the response form the stuff
members. Compared to the way the club could Enron in the past, the enrolment has generally
decreased. As this was a physical interview, some of the stuff members gave detailed explanations
to support their views which gave a detailed insight to this analysis. The stuff members feel like
more could be Dione to improve the facilities and the equipment, they felt like most of the athletes
take time to develop due to a low number of qualified trainers that coach efficiently. Most of the
stuff members believe that the club does not learn from its mistakes, they believe that with every
year passing, the same things have to be dealt with and the drags the progress and breakthrough of
the club to some extinct.
Table 2: RESULTS FROM ATHLETHES QUESTIONNAIRES

Question Yes No Uncertain

Q1.Are the facilities 2 18 0

and equipment
sufficient for training
athletes?
Q2.Is the number of 7 11 2
athletes enrolling
progressing?
Q3Are the number of 6 13 1
trained stuff adequate
enough to sustain the
current athletes?
Q4Is the number of 3 17 0
young athletes
increasing?
Q5Is the sporting club 7 11 2
expanding?

Q6Does the athletics 7 10 3

club win
competitions?
Q7Does the club learn 5 15 0
from its mistakes

BAR GRAPH 1: RESULTS FROM ATHLETES QUESTIONNAIRES

0
Q1 Q2 Q 3: Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7

YES NO UNCERTAIN

The athletes on the other hand felt like the interview was a way of airing out their views. The
athletes felt like the club has a lot of work to do to achieve the best. They felt like young athletes
were leaving due to lack of motivation. The club seams not to be youth friendly. The athletes were
generally not happy about the club’s progress. The athletes felt like they were the anchor of the club
and more attention should be given to then and more time as well. This is a great deal of a need as
far as an athletics club is concerned. The athletes need more attention in order to give their best.

RECOMEMDATIONS
Boksburg athletics club is indeed a magnificent establishment, with beautiful facilities and wonderful
members. It however as any establishment, needs a few things to deal with. Talent is groomed at a
young age, and it grows and matures as time goes on. It is then paramount to cherish young talent
and groomed it (Sesinando 2022). The club needs to increase its young athletes. This will boost
them a lot in competitions and future events. One way of achieving this would be to approach
different schools to create dealerships that will help them draw young talents towards them. Young
people in schools need exposure and some, need to discover their talents and expand them.

Equipment and facilities should meet the number of athletes that the club has (T Yazici ·2018). Since
most of the athletes keep on complaining about lack of equipment, the club should try to increase
supply of equipment and improve facilities to the best standard. This will increase membership and
as a result more money for the club amongst other things.

The club does host events; the events however are not marketed well. This observation, as a view
from most of the stuff members. The marketing strategies are not adequate enough to attract better
competitors and of course investors and other athletes as well. Relating to the recommendation
above, it is important for the club to use social media platforms like tactic and Instagram just to
mention a few. This will attract more young people and also reach out to a larger number of good
competition.

The club conducts Wednesday races amongst others, these races do not however, reach out to most
people and only attract Bedoni residents and members of the establishment. The club should go for
bigger events, invite Television stations or even radio station, reach out to South Africa with hope to
reach the world in future. Media companies can help boost and increase their reach.

The club should keep up the good work of participating in different events around South Africa. This
builds their team spirit and the confidence of the athletes (Arnold 2021). Generally speaking, the
club is in good form and promising to do wonders in the future.
REFERENCE

Arnold, G. (2021). Retrieved from:

researchgatehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/259572794_Competition_The_Heart_and_S
oul_of_Sport_Management

Darlene A. Kula. (2022) School of Human Performance and Leisure Sciences. Retrieved from:

https://www.academia.edu/40552748/Social_Media_Scholarship_in_Sport_Management_Research
_A_Critical_Review

T Yazici · 2018 Emeralad. Retrieved from: https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/2042-

678X

Boksburg athletics club (2023). Retrieved from https://www.boksburgathleticclub.co.za

Sesinando, A. D. (2022). Journal of Physical Education and Sport ® (JPES), Vol3, p 4 complex,
requiring specific and robust skills from sport managers. Retrieved from:
https://repositori.udl.cat/bitstream/handle/10459.1/84579/jpes_a2022v22n11p2800.pdf?sequenc
e=1

Lisa, P. (2021) Sport management textbooks: principles and practices in managing sports. Retrieved
from: https://www.textbooks.com/Catalog/MCI/Sports-Management.php