Knysna Sport School riding high with Evalex
Evalex is a proud sponsor of the cycling development programme at the Kynsna Sport School. The programme gives children from disadvantaged communities the opportunity to participate in a number of sports, including cricket, hockey, soccer, tag rugby, golf, cycling, tennis and athletics.
“The programme aims to bring the kids to match standard and place them in teams that are entered in school fixtures and annual sports events,” says Knysna Sport School’s Jan van Wageningen. “It has been hugely successful and rewarding and many of the children have gone on to be selected to represent South-Western Districts.
“Evalex’s sponsorship makes it possible for us to run our cycling program from ‘safe cycling’ in various schools, to outreach programs in other schools, to daily cycling outrides from some centres.”
The school maintains 53 of its own cycles and keeps them competition-ready for rides throughout the region.
Evalex’s Pieter Bronkhorst is an avid cyclist and active member of the cycling community in Knysna, which is how he came across the academy.
“I met Colin Mathiesen, chairman of a development trust that sponsors the Kynsna Sport School,” he says. “Being a passionate cyclist myself, and having done research into the power of sport in developing young people, I was intrigued by the work being done at the academy.”
- As kids are engaged in daily sporting activities after school, a few things happen. Pieter explains:
- They are kept off the streets and away from unsavoury influences
- They acquire the discipline of daily application to talent that helps them to move up in life. They develop the social and interactive skills needed to work in a team
- They learn how to compete aggressively while keeping their emotions in check
- They also learn to channel their frustrations into a healthy physical activity rather than fighting and arguing
- The positive impact of sport on the socio-psychological development of children and adolescents is well proven
“As we are in the business of developing high impact leaders, team and companies, sponsoring the elite cycling team of the Knysna Sports School fits will into our company ethos,” says Pieter.
Evalex provides financial support to the team for the purchase of mountain bikes and cycling gear, as well as moral support to the cyclists themselves.
“We have seen some incredible achievements by our cyclists, who regularly grace the podiums across all age groups at major MTB races in the Southern Cape, notably the Karoo to Coast, Doctor Evil Classic, Tour De Plett, Seven Passes and Knysna Oyster Festival.”
