Vorentoe aims to bring back the glory days after change to Sports Specialisation School

Athletics coach Oupa Maruping hopes the launch of Vorentoe Sports School of Specialisation (SOS) will bring back sponsors to the school. The institution has produced some of South Africa’s top athletes including the likes of Mapaseka Makhanya, Bayanda Walaza, Naledi Makgatha, Nolene Conrad, Tumisang Monnatlala and the Phalula twins, Lebo and her sister Lebogang. The schools’ athletics programme had been sponsored by Murray and Roberts from 2000 but when the construction firm pulled out in 2023, it left the Johannesburg-based school unable to maintain their once high standard of athletic performance with many of their top athletes leaving to join more affluent schools. 

Chiloane officially opens the Vorentoe Sports School of Specialisation. Photo Credit: Gauteng Department of Education and Sport.

"Vorentoe has a rich history," he told #TheTopRunner. "A couple of years ago after Murray and Roberts left, we filed an application to the department to change the school into a School of Specialisation just to keep our history going forward. The main impact was financial because our athletes that had been recruited from across the country ended  up finding better opportunities at schools that could afford to accommodate and feed them."

"Murray and Roberts leaving was some kind of a disaster for Vorentoe. Our cross country and Track & Field dropped. Even the medals we used to get for Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) at national level, we couldn't provide anymore. When we had the sponsor, Vorentoe was contributing between 15 to 20 medals for CGA. We are hoping that with this new move, sponsors and corporates will start thinking about Vorentoe again because we want Vorentoe to be where it was five years ago," explains Maruping. 

Johannes Morepe (left) who represented South Africa at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships over the 1500m as a Grade 11 pupil, was a product of the Vorentoe High School Murray & Roberts Athletics Academy led by head coach Hans Saestad. Photo Credit: Supplied.

CGA General Manager, Mandla Radebe, who was present at the official announcement on 19 March attended by Gauteng MEC for Education and Sports Matome Chiloane has welcomed the change. Radebe believes this move will help retain and develop more talent in the province. 

"We had engagements with the school to try and retain some of the athletes within the province but you need funding to run such a programme. We unfortunately lost athletes to other institutions, some of them out of the province. We took a knock but we are excited that we are now rebuilding. We will be able to retain athletes, develop more and take care of them. I know it's not necessarily only athletics but the school has invested in athletics over the years. So for CGA we will get some rewards out of the school. We will continue to support the school making sure that top-notch coaches are available to the school," says Radebe. 

Khotso Mokoena (left) was also in attendance to lend his support. Photo Credit: Gauteng Department of Education and Sport.

Olympian Khotso Mokoena spells the importance of School of Sport Specialisations. The Olympic silver medallist runs the Uniting a Community Through Sport programme at the Khanya Lesedi School of Sport Specialisation in Ratanda, Heidelberg where he matriculated two decades ago. Having seen the benefits in his own community, the legendary long jumper turned sports entrepreneur and administrator, is an advocate of the work done by the Gauteng Department of Education and Sport to use these schools as vehicles to change communities. 

"We have seen it work. We brought in the element of capacitating teachers to become coaches because there aren't enough resources to hire professional coaches from outside, especially in public schools. Then you also have a programme that helps learners think about life after school and you have athletes that are being developed in that community. It's a good thing that the department is launching these schools because we need that. Sports also brings life skills that will help athletes," says Mokoena.