The CPUT Rugby Club recently won the Plate Section of the University Sports South Africa (USSA) Women 7’s rugby tournament held at Wits University. Continue reading →

Catsville Residence from District Six Campus showed  endurance when they bounced back from trailing Val Du Charon Residence (Wellington) by 10 points early in the first half of the final match to clinch the inter-residence rugby tournament.

The boys were recently crowned champions of this year’s edition of the FNB Koshuis Rugby Tournament on the Bellville Campus.

The team from District Six started the game slowly and found themselves trailing 0 – 10 to their Wellington counterparts, but things changed halfway through when Catsville scored two tries in quick succession and levelled the score.

Then as the first half looked set to end in a stalemate, Catsville were awarded a penalty right in the centre of the pitch. They did the unthinkable and elected to go for a kick and voila, the ball went over the bar. The half-time score was 13-10.

In the second half Catsville picked up steam and bulldozed their way to win the tournament 24 – 20.

They received a trophy and gold medals for their sterling efforts while the runners-up were capped with silver medals.

In the match which was a curtain-raiser to the final, De Beers Residence from Bellville Campus walked away with the Bronze medals.

Martin Koch’s career has come full circle.

Decades ago, Koch started out as a lecturer in sport management, then moved on to various management positions in the private sector and has now returned to the sports industry, with his appointment as the Senior Sports Development Coordinator at the Bellville Campus.

“I always wanted to move back into sport and when I got this opportunity, I took it,” says Koch.

Koch began his career as an academic at Technikon Witwatersrand and later moved on to the University of Johannesburg, where he lectured sports management. From there he took the leap into the private education sector where he worked as a turnaround specialist, taking poor performing colleges and bringing them up to standard.

However, Koch, who has a BCom qualification in Sports Management, says sport is his passion and his goal at this stage of his career is to uncover sporting talents at CPUT and provide these students with a platform to achieve their goals.

Koch says sport is an integral part of university life, as it provides students with the opportunity to develop new sets of skills, such as leadership and maintain a balanced lifestyle.

However, Koch says to achieve sporting goals at a university, good sports management is crucial.

“It is our job as sport managers to make sport stars shine. I’m here to service the students and make sure they reach their goals.”