The new year has arrived and many of our local sports personalities will be hoping that this year will go much better than the last two years. The pandemic made things difficult in recent years.
One must note, however, that a lot more sports activities took place last year than in 2020. While the pandemic did interrupt a number of sports activities, there were some notable moments from 2021.
January
• The year started with State Mines Country Club’s Casey Jarvis being named the AmateurGolf.com Men’s Player of the Year for 2020.
• While still on golf, another State Mines player Christopher Bagnall finished third at the Nomads National Order of Merit. Bagnall finished behind Christaan Maas and Yurav Premlall.
February
• Professional golfer and coach Kenneth Dube qualified for the Senior Sunshine Tour when comfortably won the qualifying tournament by four strokes.
• Dalpark’s Nathan Steyn put on impressive performances to help the u-19 Titans to reach the finals of the Franchise Cubs tournament that took place in Stellenbosch. Although they lost to winners Cape Cobras, young Steyn was lauded for his performances with the ball in hand during the tournament.
• Jarvis continued to show his dominance in golf when he won the African Amateur Stroke Play Championships in Glendower. The victory made him the first amateur player to complete the GolfRSA South African Swing Triple Crown.
March
• Following the second wave of Covid-19 infections, the Eastern Local Football Association (ELFA) announced that clubs could begin training for the 2021 season. This was a major step as it signalled that most sports would likely be given a green light to commence their season.
• The Gauteng Women’s Rugby Institute was founded in Springs. What has made this institute so special for locals is that several players from Brakpan were selected to join. Many of these players had started rugby at Brakpan Rugby Club.
• Going one step further than their football counterparts, South African Rugby announced that club rugby would kick off in April. The Valke gave a date of April 24. This saw Brakpan Rugby Club cautiously going into intense training for the 2021 season.
April
• The Dan Triangle Club’s Christopher Thela brought home a silver medal from the Karate South Africa All Style Championships for the Masters Kumite.
• Brakpan Spurs kicked off their football season by going unbeaten throughout the month.
May
• Members of the Tenshinkan Karate Brakpan took part in the Tenshinkan Championships in Mpumalanga. They brought home nine gold, 12 silver and 15 gold medals.
• Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies’ (XKT) Darius Dekker was selected for the national mixed martial arts team.
June
• The rising number of Covid-19 cases saw both club rugby and local football being stopped. Local clubs had played more matches than in 2020 but their seasons were in jeopardy.
July
• The pandemic continued to put more sports to a halt. This time it was netball that was stopped.
August
• More local sports continued to be stopped by the pandemic. Local mixed martial arts fighters could not travel to Bulgaria for a tournament.
September
• ELFA announced the return of football.
• Former Ekurhuleni Golf Union president Martin Saaiman died. He was the president of GolfRSA.
• With the hopes of a 2021 season dashed, Brakpan Rugby Club started with their preparations for 2022.
October
• Youngsters from Brakpan Wrestling Club were selected to compete at the South African Wrestling Championships. This was after the wrestlers between the u-9 and u-13 age groups were selected to represent Ekurhuleni.
• The Ekurhuleni u-13 golf side won the Nomads South African Championships in Boksburg.
November
• XKT dominated the Great North tournament. The Brakpan club brought home seven gold medals.
• Casey Jarvis was selected to play in the South African Open after being ranked amongst the top five amateur players in the country.
• XKT was busy in November. Seven of their members competed at the South African Kickboxing Association national championships and brought home seven titles.
December
• The Gauteng Rugby Institute donated training equipment to Netball Freakz. The netball club will be looking to use the equipment this year.
• Brakpan Rugby Club confirmed they would be sponsored by Cranes, Complete and Components (CCC) in 2022. This year the club will be known as CCC Brakpan Rugby Club.
• Ivan Krause was named the Kennedy Dube Golf Academy Player of the Year.
