Sports Clubs
AIKIDO
The Rhodes Akido club is the oldest martial arts club on campus. The club has had a major impact on the development of Aikido in South Africa. Several of our Alumni have established thir own aikido dojo around S.A .The club as also played a pivotal role in developing aikido in the Eastern Cape by assisting clubs in the Port Elizabeth and East London areas. Many of the Alumni continue to pratice aikido at clubs around S.A .Although there is no formal outreach programme in place the clubs has always welcomed outside members especially from more disadvantaged community. Recently one of the members obtained his first degree black belt and is curently the assistant instructor at the club.
AQUATICS
The Rhodes Aquatics Club is divided into 2 sections, waterpolo and swimming. The men and womens waterpolo teams are affiliated in the Eastern Province Aquatics where they play in the A Section. The Club holds their training sessions in the Rhodes outdoor swimming as well as DSG indoor swimming pool. Both waterpolo and swimming sections participate in the annual USSA Aquatics National Institutional Tournament at the end of the year.
ATHLETICS
The Rhodes Athletics club consists of many different facets: road running (core aspect), track and field, cross country and triathlon/duathlon. There are daily club road runs and track and field training from Monday to Thursday between 5 and 6 pm. The club attends road running, track, cross country and triathlon fixtures throughout the EP region. Socialising at club functions and training runs is also an important aspect of the clubs enjoyable atmosphere.
Webpage: http://www.ru.ac.za/athletics
BADMINTON
Rhodes Badminton is one of the fastest sports at the University.
The Rhodes Badminton Club is separated into categories to accommodate both social and competitive players. We represent Rhodes at the Eastern Province Badminton Association and we frequently play league games in Port Elizabeth.
We’re a small but happy-go-lucky club. We welcome new players on a consistent basis. We have training sessions twice a week. Training includes fitness, movement, technique and tactics. The club is based on camaraderie and more advanced players frequently give up some of their time to help beginners.
Practice times are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 19.00 – 21.00 in Alec Mullins.
BASKETBALL
We had a successful year last year in the League and the Competitions we played last year, even though we had a slow start but as the year went by we picked up the pace and did what we did best and that is to come up tops in every challenge we come across.
Both teams took gold in the opening tournament we had before the start of the league last year (20210), the women’s team also went on at took gold in the women’s tournament played during women’s day. We also had most of our players being chosen to play for Eastern Province which shows we have a good quality of players in the teams.
The women’s team collecting gold in the Inter-Varsity by beating our arch rivalry NMMU in the finals. The men’s team collected silver in the Inter-Varsity as they went down to NMMU in the finals.
The teams went to become top in the League and winning it at the end, the men’s team were outstanding as they won all their matches despite the problems we had with the referees and their judgments’ in most of the games. The women’s team managed to pick up their winning form as they were reaching the end of the league.
The men’s team did well in USSA as they came out 7th out of 12 teams competing which were selected by way of playoffs in all the provinces, which the best 2 teams qualified to go play in USSA. The women’s team tried their best and managed to come 10th out of 12 teams in USSA despite the very tough challenge they got from other teams.
In the coming year we plan to increase the standards and keep up with the record we have been setting in every competition we participate in and we looking forward to a bright year and a successful one.
CANOE
The Rhodes University Canoe Club has got to be one of the most unique, if not the most unique sports clubs at Rhodes. We are a fairly new club, since we were only established in 2003, but we have gone from strength to strength very quickly. From a group of friends, who were all passionate canoeists, deciding to start a canoe club over a drink at the Rat and Parrot, the club is now a fully functional, very successful club as can be seen from our 2010 stats, where we won Club of the Year, Committee of the Year and our 2010 chairman, Jess Goble was named Administrator of the Year.
We focus on river paddling, and attend as many of the river races as we can on the calendar especially all the main races. Fish River Canoe Marathon doubles as the main inter-varsity competition and thus is our club’s biggest highlight of the year, proving that we are both a very competitive and a very social club.
Our training takes place at the stunning Settlers Dam in Thomas Baines Nature Reserve, which is about a 15km drive outside Grahamstown, thus a great way to get out of Grahamstown for a few hours for a break from studies and the res/campus/town environment.
CHESS
At the Rhodes Chess Club, both social and competitive chess are played.
Players of all levels are welcome. We attend several tournaments throughout the year, including open tournaments in Port Elizabeth. We take part in the Inter-Varsity and USSA chess events, as well as hosting our own tournaments (notably the annual Rhodes Open.) Practices are traditionally on Monday and Wednesday evenings, at the Chess Club House. In 2010, we had 50 registered members, ranging from beginners to strong tournament players (1800 ELO +).
Coaching is provided regularly by our top players for those who want it. The Chess Club is a great place to take some time out while improving your mental and logical skills. See you there!
DANCESPORT
DanceSport is a team sport danced in partnership between man and woman using required technique together with floorcraft and artistic interpretation to produce highly disciplined dance performance. DanceSport developed out of the narrow confines of Ballroom dancing but today includes any dance style which has achieved internationally recognized competition structure and has adopted a sport based culture.
Webpage: nwe site: http://rhodesdancesport.webs.com
FIRST AID
The First Aid club offered members have a chance to obtain training in life saving course. Members are trained for Level 1 or Level 3 First Aid, or both. The Club workis in conjuction with St John's Ambulance to achieve this. With acquired skills, members have the opprotunity to practice by providing on site First Aid medical attention fpr other sport clubs on campus, like the rugby rigby club. The Club also hosts social evenst that allow members to mingle and get to know one another
GOLF
Steff swinging!
An instrumental factor this year has been the number of young members and the registration of ladies . The relationship between the Grahamstown Golf Club and the Rhodes Golf club has been fundumental . They have , week after offered us the of their facilities and clubhouse without any hestation.
Having successfully hosted the USSA 2008 Golf tournament , Rhodes University Golf club can rightfully hold its head up high.
HOCKEY
The Hockey club is one of the largest sport clubs at Rhodes, and for good reason!
We compete in the EP hockey league at the highest level down to 2nd division level, with 4 men’s teams and 4 ladies’ teams being competitive at their appropriate level. These games are played on the weekends in PE or at the Rhodes Astroturf and team practices are held on week nights. Each year the 1st men’s and ladies’ XI take part in the USSA hockey tournament with both teams taking the silver medal in the B division in 2009.
Rhodes Hockey at its best
For the more non-serious players, we also run a social league where teams play against each other regularly, these matches generally taking place on Friday evenings. The club prides itself on being competitive in the leagues and producing provincial players, where they compete for EP and above, and also maintain a good social atmosphere, through club functions and other events.
The club also received the “Most improved club of the year” for 2008, and “Sports club of the year”, “Committee of the year”, “Coach of the year” and “Administrator of the year” for 2009.
KARATE (SHOTOKAN)
The Rhodes University Shotokan Karate Club has had a turbulent and great success in the last few years with regards to the growth of club membership and the variety of events that have taken place. Sensei Gary (5th dan) says that “karate training provides one of the smartest ways in which to exercise the mind and body” as well as developing the ability to be able to defend oneself. The Rhodes University Shotokan Karate Club has certainly been exercising this notion as well as a fantastic team spirit which evolves from training and competing. The most recent achievement was the South African Nationals that were held in Uitenhage (2011); the Rhodes team was one of the smallest and yet brought back home a total of 15 medals, while only sending 7 karatekas. “JOIN US IF YOU CAN’T BEAT US AND GIVE YOURSELF A FIGHTING CHANCE”.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS - MMA (formerly known as KUNG FU)
Rhodes MMA is a full contact, combat sport that incorporates a wide variety of fighting techniques and skills. The Club encourages its members not only to be taught at the training sessions but to also teach one another. It is a club that will get you fit, teach you to fight and how to defend yourself all while having fun.
MOUNTAIN
The Mountain Club (RUMC) is one of the largest to date making it a highly
productive and successful one on both the competitive and recreational
front.
One of the most exciting aspects in recent years regarding RUMC is the new climbing wall as well as hosting the USSA climbing and bouldering competition in June 2007. In April this year (2011), Rock Climbing at Rhodes will hold the National Bouldering League. The internal climbing league is also seeing new faces on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
The club has so much to offer, whether one's interests lie in hiking, climbing, environmental issues, community development or socialising with friends while surrounding oneself in the beauties of nature. The club offers inexpensive opportunities to explore the Eastern Cape every weekend and more extensively, South Africa on our vac trips.
The club is involved in all aspects of campus and community life. Development climbing initiatives saw underprivileged children being taken to the rock faces around Grahamstown. The club's involvement in community outreach programmes is growing, specifically with Mary Waters and Nombahlelo Schools in Grahamstown.
RUMC is one of the few sports clubs which has an environmental officer position on its committee; emphasising the club's great interest in conservation and preservation of our environment. These projects involve trail maintenance and alien-species-hacks.
The club proved to be a highly productive one in 2010, receiving the award,most improved club. This year, RUMC aims to continue this success through offering excellent service to students, surrounding communities and our environment in the future.
NETBALL
The Rhodes club consist of 4 ladies teams with 3rd and 4th teams playing in the Makana Netball Association and the 1st and 2nd teams playing in the Eastern Netball Association .
Netball
These teams pratice every Tuesday and Thursday from 18h00 -20h00 at Allec Mullins Netball Court.
The 1st team also participate in the annual USSA Netball National Institutional Championship in District at National Provincial Championships in 2009.
The club also host an annual internal league mixed team's ournament with a view to introduce and market the sport to the students and staff . The Club's 2009 membershiop is 67.
POOL
The Rhodes Pool Club consists of men and womens teams. The club hosts training training sessions and an internal league in the Purple Horse from Monday to Thursday between 19h00 and 21h00. The club is affiliated to the Eastern Province Pool and members are sent for provincial trials on a regular basis. We teach the game to all willing to learn, and do so in the spirit of the game! In 2010, Pool Club had
91 members.
RIFLE
Rhodes University Rifle Club is better described as a family. We take part in SATRA (South African Target Rifle Association) competitions throughout the year competing in the .22 calibre category at 50 meters. These competitions are namely the South African Nationals, Free State Championships and Eastern Cape Championships. Practices are on Mondays 18:00 – 20:00, Wednesdays at 18:00 – 20:00 and Saturdays at 14:00 – 16:00. We host numerous fun shoots throughout the year so that non-members can also join in on the fun and also compete in our own Club League, during which prizes are awarded. Free for members, R20 for non-members. The dates of these follow:
- 16 March
- 20 April
- 18 May – Braai and League Shoot Awards Ceremony for the semester.
- 27 July
- 24 August
- 21 September - Braai and League Shoot Awards Ceremony for the semester.
- 19 October
At the Braai and League Shoot Awards Ceremony for the semester, the top 3 guys and girls will be announced and awarded medals. All members are welcome to attend the braai, free of charge, however non-members will be charged an entrance fee of R 50.
ROWING
The rowing club consists of men and women crews that participate in various rowing catagories from 8ts, 4's to sculling . The club is ranked among top rowing clubs in the counrty and has produced few national under 23 representatives . The Rowing club is affiliated to Rowing South Africa as well as USSA. The clubs training takes place in the Settlers Dam from 05h00-07h00 in the morning and again in the afternoon from 17h30 -19h00. The Club partcipates in various regattas around the country and begins their session in January with a 3 weeks camp in Port Alfred where all rowers are put through their paces in preparation for the sprint season. A second camp is held in July also in Port Alfred in preparation for the ultimate racce pf theyear , the Universities Boat Race is held in Port Alfred in the Kowie River .
RUGBY
The RHODES Rugby Club consists of 4 men's teams (U/21A, 2nd XV, 1XV Reserves and 1st team) with one ladies touch rugby team. The rugby's home ground is the Great Field with Purple Horse and the sports bar serving as dual purpose clubhouses. All teams practice on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 18h00-20h00. The games are played on Wednesday by the U21A side and Saturdays by the open sides.
All 4 of the men's teams compete in the Eastern Province leagues. The u21A side competes in the B section while the 2nd XV, 1st Reserves and 1XV compete in the Adams cup super league. Every year the universities best rugby player's travel to compete in the USSA tournament. This year the tournament will be hosted in Johannesburg by WITS University.
Also the club competes in the annual Inter-Varsity tournament, which consists of 4 teams, Rhodes, NMMU, WSU and UFH. This year the event will be hosted by Rhodes on the 17-18 August 2012.
The club does not only accommodate players looking to play competitively, it also accommodates social rugby players while the Club hosts an Internal league tournament between July and October where teams from residences compete in a social environment every Friday evening. This event is well supported by the university and players are often selected from these teams to play in the university teams.
SAILING
Sailing and Kite Surfing has proven to be one of the more popular sports in South Africa, and is now the fastest growing sport in South Africa. We pride ourself on giving students at Rhodes University the opportunity to sail and kite surf, which would others wise not be available to them. Sailing at Rhodes is mainly done on Dinghys (Lasers, Sprogs and Rebels) according to experience, however we frequently sail yacht (inlcuding the 64ft Warrior). With one of the best Kite Surfing spots situated a mere hours drive from Grahamstown, Cannon Rocks is where much of the Kite Surfing is done at Rhodes. Weekend and weekday trips are often organised with a minimum of 2 trips a week (wind dependant). Come Sailing and kiting with us, its wet 'n wild!
SOCCER
The Rhodes Club consists of 2 mens teams and 1 womens team. The Clubs home ground is King Field and all training sessions are held on this field from Monday to Thursday between 17h00 and 18h30 for women and between 18h30 and 20h00 for men. The womens team is affiliated to SAFA NMB where they compete in the ABSA League and the mens teams are affiliated to PEFA where they compete in the 1st division. Both sections are also affiliated to USSA Football where they compete against other tertiary institutions in the province with the winners qualifying for participation at the USSA National Club Championships at the end of the year.
The Club runs a host of community outreach programs on campus and off campus and the most successful programs to date are the Rhodes Internal Soccer League and the Grahamstown High Schools Soccer League.
SQUASH
With Dr. Brendan Wilhelmi keeping a watchful eye, few things can go wrong in the squash club. Extremely successful, participatinng in various leagues and with no less than 7 registered teams, the squash club is onre of the more established and successful clubs at Rhodes. Regularly participating in the USSA tournament and running the highly rated national Rhodes Open Tournament, the squash club can only go from strength to strength.
SURFING
The Rhodes Surf Club is essentially a social surfing and body boarding club, which welcomes members of any skill level. The club pays attention to teaching those interested in learning to surf and as well as encouraging the enhancement of skills of those already able to surf. Several internal competitions are held to select a Tri-varsity and SA Student Champs team but apart from these, lifts ferry surfers to Port Alfred on a weekly basis. The local break we use in Port Alfred (55km from Grahamstown) produces particularly consistent conditions and those dedicated enough to get there are seldom disappointed. On more of a relaxed and social side but still with high levels of competition the club holds an annual Old Boys Contest. This sees current and old Rhodian surfers challenging each other with their surfing skills. Those in the surf club enjoy many road trips and the atmosphere is always full of enthusiasm and adventure.
TABLE TENNIS
The Rhodes University table tennis club prides itself on being a fun club. We look forward every time to meeting new people and having a good time together. Many people believe that it takes great skill to play table tennis. But once you have the trusty bat in hand and a ball bouncing towards you, the passion within will be screaming for you to slam the ball like a champ!
And ... given some time and coaching with us ... you will no doubt be answering that scream with a bellow of victory!
Laughter and merriment is sure to follow :)
We have the tables, the bats, and the balls.
All you need to bring is your mind, your body, and of course, your spirit!
Our practice times are:
Tuesdays and Thursdays
18h30 - 20h00
Venue: The Hanger (Behind the Africa Media Matrix Journalism Building)
Come join and find the table tennis tiger within!
Grrrrr!
Contact (2011 Chairman):
Andre "ACE" Ah Chow
ace.legendary@gmail.com
Webpage: http://tabletennis.sport.ru.ac.za
TENNIS
The club has more than doubled in size this year. The club participates actively in various leagues throughout the year:
The Eastern Province A and B division.
The Grahamstown League
The Night League
The Premier Winter League
Tri-Varsity
Inter-Res Competition
A big focus this year was to generate awareness of the club and this was done
successfully.
Action packed social functions were held with more than 100 people in attendance.
The club also held various fund-raising activities with the proceeds going to the various charity organisations. A 24 hour tennis marathon was held; an Aids Awareness week function was held.
The proceeds were donated to the SPCA as well as SHARC.
VOLLEYBALL
The year started off with the annual beach volleyball tournament.
2 available courts with practice sessions taking place on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 17h00 to 19h00.
As usual the practices were well-attended in the beginning, but started to decline towards the end of the season especially where the ladies were concerned so much so that for some fixtures we could not field a ladies team.
The club participates actively in the Eastern Province Volleyball League with the Men’s Team achieving 3rd position in last year’s league
The ladies won the tri-Varsity Competition in 2008 for the first time in many years.
On entertainment side, successful cheese and wines were held and a great bbq with lots of snacks.
UNDERWATER
Underwater Club
The Underwater Club is essentially three clubs in one. The three activities it offers its members are Underwater Hockey, SCUBA Diving and Spearfishing. The club is very active within each of its three departments and we pride ourselves in being a popular club due to the enthusiasm and active participation of many of our members in at least one of these activities. Any member can participate in any one of the activities once he has signed up for the club and is not constrained to one activity.
Rhodes has a strong team of Underwater Hockey players that practice regularly, usually at least three to four times a week. This results in a strong team spirit amongst the regular players who attend numerous annual tournaments together such as Underwater Hockey Nationals for those that get selected to play for the Eastern Province side. Clubs is another annual tournament that happens towards the end of every year which is a more social tournament which is attended by many Underwater Hockey clubs from all over the country. Despite the dedicated training the Underwater Hockey team definitely knows how to have fun too and will always be up for a good braai at the clubhouse or tournament function. Come join us underwater and I can assure you’ll become addicted to this unusual sport in no time!
The SCUBA Division of the Underwater Club is always remarkably active thanks to our hard working and dedicated instructors who offer a number of courses of many different levels throughout the year. The club’s instructor will generally run: at least two Open Water (entry level) dive courses; at least two Advanced courses; often a Rescue course; and often qualifies Dive Masters. Our instructors are also usually qualified to instruct a First Aid and CPR course which is specialized for diving situations but is also the equivalent of a standard level 1 course. These courses are scheduled with as much consideration for the students’ individual time constraints as possible since we know that you’re at Rhodes to study...mostly!
We also offer a number of SCUBA diving trips to our diving members. One of the annual trips that we attend every year is the Noordhoek Dive Festival in June which is a dive festival that is hosted by a number of dive schools in the Eastern Cape. The trip consists of a weekend of solid diving on the Wildside, just south of Port Elizabeth, where there are a number of beautiful reefs and some awesome ocean life to be spotted. There is also the opportunity to win a number of prizes really worth winning such as cameras, BCDs and other dive gear. The other annual dive trip is the Aliwal Shoal dive trip which happens at the end of each year. This is a truly awesome trip and a great opportunity to see a lot of the sea life that we miss out on in the Eastern Cape such as whalesharks, tigersharks and tropical reefs and fishes. It’s also a great opportunity to get away with like-minded adventure seekers for a truly awesome time! Other dive trips that we hope to start this year are a Sardine Run dive trip and the Chokka Run dive trip.
Last but definitely not least the Spearfishing Division is also very active with weather dependant trips to the coast happening regularly. Trips generally occur in Kenton whenever the conditions allow for it and other trips to areas of the Transkei and other regions along the coast. For those that relish the adrenalin rush of hunting some surprisingly smart species and having the opportunity to get close to many other marine animals from sharks to turtles, this sport is definitely for you. Spearfishing nationals is another annual event that is always attended by a couple of dedicated Rhodes Spearfishers. There have been many great fish shot by members, which is shown by the biggest fish trophy in the clubhouse with an 11kg Pignose Grunter being last years’ biggest fish. This year we plan to do joint spearfishing and SCUBA dive trips to maximise the available transport when the weather is good. Our Spearfishing representative is also happy to take on beginners as long as they have a reasonable level of fitness and the club does have a speargun and other kit available for beginners to use.
All in all, our club is a very active and social one. Our committee is dedicated to ensuring that our members have an awesome time being part of our club and have ample opportunity to take part in all activities. We braai at our clubhouse on the great field every single Thursday which is a great opportunity to meet people that love being underwater as much as you do. Our famous spit braais also happen once a term so be sure not miss them. So come along and get wet n’ wild with us!
Please visit the Club website here
Yout Tube Video: http:www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP2kcfNNDaw
