The name Stellenbosch is synonymous with “Excellence in Science and Sport”,
and what better place to combine those two fields than the Department of Sport Science.
My name is Heinrich Grobbelaar, the Executive Head of the Department.
Although or Department is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
at the Tygerberg Campus, the department itself and all our activities and programs are based at
Coetzenburg in Stellenbosch. What you see here is the Department adjacent to the Maties Gym,
the outside swimming pool and in fact, everything that you see in this slide
is an extension of our classrooms. So the Cricket nets the Rugby and Soccer fields,
the athletic fields, swimming pools, the Astro turfs, Tennis courts, Netball courts,
you have your practical components in these world class facilities,
next to the picturesque Stellenbosch mountains.
Strolling through the Afrikaans slides, to give you an overview of our program structure.
It is important to note that we offer a BA program in Sport Science, that resorts under the Faculty
of Art and Social Sciences and here you take Sport Science as one of your majors, and by that I mean
you’ll have Sport Science for three years and you will combine it with one of the following
modules which will then be your second major.
You can choose between Afrikaans and Nederland’s, English studies, Psychology or Geography.
The other option is to combine Sport Science with Physiology.
That program is a BSc program and falls under the Faculty of Science.
Now the big difference between these two programs does not have so much to do with
the Sport Science component because that is fairly similar across the two programs.
However, it has to do with the other major as well then as supplementary modules that you will take.
So for example in the BSc program, Physiology will be a major, but you will also have Chemistry, Physics,
Biochemistry, more your Natural Science subjects. In the case of the BA program, you chose one of
those four options there as your second major and in your second year you take one of those
subjects again up to second year level.
Now both of those programs are subject to a selection process and we are capped.
We’re only allowed to take sixty (60) students into both the BA program and sixty (60) into the BSc programs.
So that is then the set program for 3 years.
Our Department also has a few service living modules in the Bachelors of Education program,
but that doesn’t really speak to students who studies Sport Science.
However, our affiliation with the Faculty of Education becomes important should you wish to
continue, after graduating with either the BA or BSc degree and you want to qualify as a teacher.
That program is called the Post Graduate Certificate in Education, which entail one
year of full time study. Now we will see there with a little asterisk *, that it is not directly
suitable to students who combines Sport Science and Psychology as their two majors.
The reason being is that you require two school subjects and both Sport Science and Psychology
only allows you to teach Life Orientation in the school curriculum.
Now you can overcome that problem by taking additional subjects over the course
of your three years, your undergraduate program. So that is one option to which you can articulate
after completion of your Sport Science degree. Now both the students taking the B.Ed program
and the PGCE program can continue to do the Bachelors of Education Honors degree.
But a lot of you might be interested in pursuing a honors degree in Sport
Science and we’ve got three options. So remember, firstly, you have the option
to exit the university with your degree, your undergrad qualification;
you’ve got the option to continue with the post graduate certificate in Education or one of
these three BSc Honors programs that we have.
Firstly, the Biokinetics program which is one year of full time study. But on completion of that
program you are still supposed to do one year of internship before you can register with
the Health Professions Council of South Africa as a Biokineticists.
The second option is the Honors program in Performance Sport.
For example, that is the program that I took; and I specifically
focused on the area of Sport Psychology, which is part of that particular program.
We also have a very exiting program called Kinderkinetics again for persons working
with children with certain motor learning disabilities or enhancing their motor skills.
Now it is important to note that even though these programs are called Bachelors of Science Honors
programs, both students coming from the BA program and the BSc program can apply for these programs.
Now we look at your academic performance across the first three years at Stellenbosch
as well as non-academic factors. So for example; leadership, sport involvement,
social impact initiatives where you are involved in the community
and additional courses and qualifications that you obtained throughout the course of your studies.
Now from the Honors levels onwards all our programs resort under the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science.
What makes the honors program quite unique is that 25% of the programs consist of a research project.
So you work in groups to plan, execute and write up a research study.
If you find that very interesting you can continue with a Masters degree in Sport Science (M.Sc. degree),
which is then a 100% thesis. You only do research. It typically takes two years and
you can thereafter continue with a Ph.D program in Sport Science (100% dissertation),
which tend to take at least three years.
So from start, at undergrad level, you’ve got exit levels
at year 3, after year 4, after 6 years or even after 9 years.
To earn the qualification of a Doctorate in Sport Science it means that you have studied at least for 9 years.
So that is a lot of studying and over here you can see the layout of the Sport Science component.
Remember that is your one major module that you could take in year 1, 2 and 3;
and you will see here that in a lot of the cases the BA and the BSc students actually sit in the same classes.
Where they don’t sit in the same class is where they often have modules, let’s say for example; 1st year Anatomy.
So the BA students take that module in the first semester and the BSc Students takes it in the 2nd semester.
So, the same module, but you don’t sit in the same classes.
The only real difference on the theoretical aspect of Sport Science degree,
so you will count a difference of 15 modules on this particular slide,
is that the BA students that take Sport Psychology in both their 1st and their 3rd year,
whereas the BSc students only take it in their 3d year,
and the BA students also have Sport History as a compulsory module in their 3rd year.
This gives you a broad overview of the theoretical aspects that we will cover in this program.
You will see a combination of Social Sciences and Natural Sciences,
because, remember, after all, we are working with people.
We are working with people in an exercise, in a health and in a performance setting.
Now the program does not only consist of theoretical modules.
It’s very practically orientated and as I have showed to you earlier
the sport fields, swimming pools, etc. is an extension of our classrooms.
So you will have sport practical’s in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year.
Some of them are compulsory, others are electives and depending on your expertise and your own interest,
you can then select these particular sports, or sporting codes.
Now in the 1st year, the whole idea is to get you moving and to introduce you to what we call the movement vocabulary.
So to experience movements in different sports. You could obviously take the sports in which you are good,
or change yourself to learn from sports to which you might not have been exposed to before.
Also important to note is that, whilst many of our students are athletes this program is not designed
to make you in to a better athlete. That might happen as a byproduct of what you are learning,
because all of a sudden what you learn in the classroom, on the playing field, in the practical setting;
you can apply it to your own sport and through that you might enhance your own performance.
But you don’t need to be a top level athlete. We won’t necessarily assess your ability to perform these activities.
In the 2nd year, the focus shift slightly more towards coaching.
So both individual and team sports again, certain of them compulsory,
others are electives and then in the 3rd year we also bring in other components in all of a sudden,
like dance, games; which is land based but then also water activities.
So, different mediums in which some of these activities happen.
In the 3rd year you also have, what we call the lab rotations.
There is 4 cycles at the university and you have modules
like Kinanthropometry, where you learn how to measure the composition of the body.
You will look at Functional Anatomy, how muscles and the joints and everything interact
in an exercise setting, Strength and conditioning, as well as Field Testing.
So, how to really go out and test the capacity or the ability of athletes in different settings.
So that gives you a good overview of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year practical components.
This is the one place where this particular program allows you to choose what you are interested in; where
the rest of the Sport Science component is fairly structured, depending on which program you chose,
and is also in terms of which other major module you choose in the case of the BA program.
In the 3rd year we also have very exiting modules called the Applied Kinesiology Electives.
For both the 1st and 2nd semester you can then focus on fitness, coaching of a specific sport.
You can chose a primary sport and a secondary sport and apply know both the theory and the practical
side of these modules and everything that you acquired and learned over the space of three years
is now applied within this particular setting.
The other option is to work in the area of sport and recreation
and adapted physical activity for persons with disabilities.
This is really exciting modules, slightly smaller groups of students; depending on who take each
elective and this is really where you put everything that you do in Sport Science together.
We’ve got an extremely exiting exchange program. So, in the beginning of the 3rd year, annually
we select the top 12 3rd year students and the university sponsor a large part of this particular program.
We take you to Sweden in January and February, and I have experienced temperatures of
up to -20º, and we take you skiing and you might jump into a frozen lake, learn how to survive.
We expose you to different cultures, also different sporting culture, and a totally unique experience,
specifically aimed then to invest in our students whom we hope then, will continue
with post graduate studies within our department. Or, they can also continue with their studies
in the other major. Whether that is Physiology, Psychology, Geography etc.
And over the past 9 years of this program, 96 of our Stellenbosch University students and 78 of the
Swedish students have taken part in this program. So three weeks after our return from Sweden, the
Swedish students, your friends by then, also come and join in the fun and in the sun, in which they
are in desperate need of considering the winter and harsh conditions that they are subject to.
So I really look forward to seeing your applications
and seeing the selections and welcoming you to the Department of Sport Science in the near future.
I thank you for your time.
Dankie, Enkosi.