Steyn and Roets invited for national wrestling trials

POLOKWANE – Two local wrestlers, Elbert Steyn and Roodie Roets, are among wrestlers who are invited to attend the national wrestling trials that will be held in Kempton Park at the end of January.

Steyn and Roets have represented the province and the country in various international wrestling championships and are expected to form part of the national senior team.

According to the provincial wrestling president, Louis de Lange, the duo has been doing well and he believes they will ace the trials and form part of the national team. “We are trying our best to train these young athletes but we still need international kind of resources to be able to match international wrestlers’ standard. We are still trying to get sponsorship to buy proper training equipment, and get to pay our athletes to boost their morale and keep them glued to the sport,” explained De Lange.

He added that athletes need to get paid so they can remain committed and focus on training. He further said wrestlers have to train as hard as possible, eat well and get enough sleep to become the best.

He said, “If our athletes want to compete against internationals, they need to train like them. There is a lot of wrestling potential in the province but we need investment in the sport to produce the best athletes.”

He added that athletes are forced to find jobs elsewhere in order to be able to put food on the table for their loved ones and this denies them time to train and polish their skills to get to the top.

De Lange emphasised that wrestling needs full-time commitment like any other sport to produce best results.

He further urged wrestlers to keep on training hard to live their dreams and become the best in what they do.