Many years ago, a small boy in Ladysmith loved nothing more than to do all kinds of sports.

Like many youngsters, he had hoped to become one of the best, especially as a swimmer.

When he realised early on it would not happen, he did not get despondent. Through his participation, he had learned to make the most of every opportunity. It stood him to good stead.

A few weeks ago, it was announced that Steven Ball is TuksSport’s new Director and acting CEO of the High-Performance Centre (hpc).

Ball has not forgotten where it all started for him. If he can have one thing come true at TuksSport, it will be that every student-athlete should realise that opportunity is everywhere. The key is to develop the vision to see it and to make the most of it.

“If only 1% of all our athletes and students at Tuks step up. It does not mean they need to be champions between four lines. If in the end, they excel in the financial world, the law, medical science or whatever it would mean they are playing a leading role to make South Africa a prosperous country. That is what we want at Tuks,” he explained his dream.

Ball believes everyone can relate to that moment when you realise what your calling in life is going to be. For him, it happened when his dad took him and fellow swimmers to Pietermaritzburg to be tested by a former fitness coach for the Springboks, Sharks and Dolphins. The testing was quite intense. When it had finished, Ball was inspired.

“I will never forget that day. When we left, I told my dad that is what I am going to do. I want to work with performance athletes. That is how my journey started,” he remarked.

In 1997 Ball enrolled at Tuks to study BA Human Movement Science. He was only 17 at the time. He went on to do his honours in Human Movement Science specialising in Biokinetics. He also completed the Management Advancement Program (MAP) at the University of Witwatersrand, Wits Business School and various international high-performance coaching-related qualifications. Ball then did an MPhil Business Management in Responsible Leadership.

According to Ball, he was never a brilliant student. He, however, excelled in the practical side of his studies and always tried to apply theory into practice. He started his career at TuksSport and the Institute for Sport Research in 2001 as an intern biokineticist/sport scientist. During this time, he occupied several management positions, including at the hpc, Canoeing SA and TuksAquatics, before he was appointed TuksSport Deputy Director responsible for Coaching and Performance management, in 2012.

Over the years as a passionate coach, he believed the core of success lies in building good relationships.

“I realised quite early when coaching that I won’t ever have all the answers. That is why forming solid relationships with athletes were meaningful. If everyone is on the same page, the battle is half won,” he explained.

A definite highlight in his career was getting an opportunity to assist South Africa’s swimmers during the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and the 2003 World Championships. It was also exciting to help Tuks’s William Diering, Lise-Mari Retief and Suzaan van Biljon prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. All three of them ended up finishing 10th. The same year Suzaan won a gold medal in the 200m breaststroke at the World Short Course Championships (25m pool).

Ball considers 2017 as a year not to forget in the history of TuksSport.

“Tuks won seven of the nine Varsity Sport and Cup Tournaments and nine USSA Tournaments. Seeing headings in newspapers read ‘Where winning is an addiction’ and ‘what makes TuksSport tick?’ It is something I often use to motivate athletes and myself,” he said proudly.

The new director’s way to relax, besides being with his wife, two daughters will seem strange to many, but for him, there is something to be said to go grocery shopping on the early hours of Saturday mornings. It is him, the trolly and his thoughts.

For the moment Ball does not want to think about what the future holds for him being the “Boss of TuksSport”, but he did make a promise to himself.

“Wayne Goldsmith once said that when you wake up in the morning, working in a high-performance sport environment without a sense of anxiety about what needs to be done and the responsibility there of, it is time to think about quitting. It holds a lot of truth to me,” Ball concluded.

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