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Chief director: Looking back over four years at Maties Sport
Author: Maties Sport Media
Published: 20/08/2018

In August – Women's month – Maties Sport: Chief Director Ilhaam Groenewald celebrated her fourth anniversary at Stellenbosch University (SU). Her contract comes up for renewal in 2019, and she would love to continue with her work here and see all her efforts of the past four years bear fruit.

“Four years might sound long, but we spent the first 18 to 24 months realigning Maties Sport. This means that our programmes are effectively only two years old and our High Performance (HP) and Recreational and Active Lifestyle Units are only now starting to flourish. I would like to see them go from strength to strength," she says.

“Maties Sport is much more integrated with the University than when I was appointed, thanks to the relationships we built with management, deans and faculties. We are not just the people on 'the other side of the Eerste River' any more. Due to our improved media and communication strategy, more people know about us and understand what we do. I'm extremely proud of the progress we've made in our HP, Recreational and Active Lifestyle, and Media and Communication units."

Maties Sport was thrown a curve-ball at the end of 2017 when Steinhoff withdrew its sponsorship and they are currently working with different role-players to address the situation.

“I'm working closely with Prof Stan du Plessis (COO of SU), SU's Development and Alumni Relations Office, and SU's industry interaction and innovation company Innovus on this and it has been identified as a key performance area. We are rethinking fundraising strategies with an emphasis on the value proposition around investing in high-performance sport, specifically in terms of bursaries and support programmes."

Although 2018 has been challenging, there were highlights as well.

“One highlight was winning the Varsity Cup tournament in Stellenbosch University's centenary year while another is our sport codes' excellent USSA results in July."

Looking towards the future, Ilhaam would like to see HP sport codes such as football and athletics perform better.

“We've appointed new managers and coaches and we've implemented new recruitment strategies. I allow three years for changes to be implemented; I believe we will only see results by 2020.

“Maties Sport follows a holistic approach when it comes to our student-athletes' academic and sporting development. Any student-athlete who comes to SU will always be a student first and an athlete second. Our excellent HP model won't give us results overnight, but our momentum is growing. We have top-class facilities, beautiful surroundings and a strong administration. Since 2016, SU has increased investment in Maties Sport – the university's leadership believes in us."

Ilhaam's dream is to make a difference in the South African sporting environment in terms of leadership.

“Business reengineering is very important to me. I studied business management before I studied sport management and my passion is to bring these two areas together. I believe SU is a space where this could happen, and from there the dream of creating a Centre for Sport Leadership. We must create opportunities to empower our staff to understand the business of sport and we need to understand the role that technology will play in the future and take advantage of it."

As a Chief Director: Maties Sport, President of University Sport South Africa (USSA) and a member of SARU's executive council, Ilhaam functions in a male-dominated environment and has noticed that the situation regarding women in management positions in sport is stagnant.

“When I go to meetings, they are still dominated by men. I believe there are strong and capable women out there – they are just not being given the opportunity to be in the position where serious discussions and decision-making are taking place."

She copes by ensuring that she is well-informed and well-prepared.

“I would not have taken up responsibilities if I didn't believe I was capable of handling them. However, sometimes I place so much pressure on myself that I don't take time out. There are good things out there that could allow one to come back and flourish even more."​

Photo: Chief Director Ilhaam Groenewald with some of her colleagues at Maties Sport.