State-of-the-art Elastic Gym opened
OPPORTUNITY: The new gym is based at the Mowbray campus.
Friday, 18 November 2022
The Faculty of Education recently celebrated the opening of a state-of-the-art Elastic Resistance Training Facility – a project which aims to boost physical education teaching.
The facility is based at the Mowbray campus and speakers at the event included Charl du Toit, who won two gold medals at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and Sandro Di Girolamo, President of the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA).
Attendees were also treated to a demonstration on the elastic system.
The gym is the brainchild of the Faculty’s Dr George Joubert.
“One of my PhD recommendations referred to the implementation of physical education systems that could address the specific physical needs of primary school learners but also have the ability to be used in relative small spaces with a maximum amount of learners that can train together, over a short period of time. As a lecturer I am also constantly looking at innovative ideas and concepts that my students can be exposed to, that will have a profound positive impact on their journey as young teaching practitioners,” said Joubert.
The main objectives are to:
- Develop a physical education teacher base that is well trained in the elastic system
- Create a specific teaching method and curricula for the system
- Do extensive research on the value of elastic resistance on children in partnership with IBSA.
Joubert said the gym is funded by a sponsorship agreement with Ultimate Resistance Training (URT) systems.
“Mr Charl du Plessis is an ex provincial rugby player, conditioning guru, and founder of the URT systems. Charl worked with the South African rugby Union and the Lions Rugby Union for several years, but his desire to create fundamental development concepts took over the last few years. CPUT is very honoured and excited to join forces with this revolutionary new way of training through the URT systems.”
Du Toit gave his congratulations to everyone involved in the project.
“This is the foundation for great memories and actually to change lives without realising it. So well done and I’m very excited to see what the impact of this gym, this facility and this family is going to be over the next couple of years,” he said.
Di Girolamo said he was very happy to be at CPUT and emphasised the important role universities played in terms of research on sport.
The main role-players of the initiative are: CPUT’s Department of Education and the Sport Management Department, IBSA, the Forward Foundation, Winelands Para Sport and the South African Sports Association for the Physically Disabled.
Written by Ilse Fredericks
Email: Frederickskennediji@cput.ac.za
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