Participating in sports, especially the beautiful game of golf, can be an incredibly rewarding experience for young people. For developing bodies and minds, golf is particularly good for building strength and endurance, teaching important skills and lessons, like concentration, how to manage emotions, and the thrill of working towards a goal.
“Unfortunately, golf can be an expensive sport to play,” says Nico Van Rensburg, a seasoned Coach and South African golfing legend with nine world championship wins under his belt. “We have numerous young golfing diamonds in the rough in South Africa waiting to be discovered. They deserve a chance to pursue the sport they love and make their dreams come true.”
As the Commercial Manager for the Ernie Els Group and having coached some of the world’s best players, including the ‘Big Easy’ himself, Van Rensburg is committed to making golf more accessible to young deserving players across the country.
To give back to the community and the sport he loves, Van Rensburg started the Vuma Golf Clinics in 2021. This initiative, in partnership with leading fibre network operator Vuma, aims to identify and support young golfers in the making who already have the talent and who wish to pursue golf professionally but are unable to access resources or afford to play on an ongoing basis.
Van Rensburg, along with the likes of Richard Maree and Quinton Williams, will be offering coaching support to around 50 young players from the community. Learners from Tsoseletso Secondary School and Willem Postma Primary, which are beneficiaries of the Vuma Fibre to Schools programme, have been invited to participate in the event. This will occur at the upcoming Vuma Golf Clinics events, taking place at the Bloemfontein Golf Club on 2 May 2024.
“We invite kids of all backgrounds and walks of life to take part in golf clinics, where they get to learn from the country’s top coaches, while enjoying a fun-filled day with other young golfers, with loads of food and prizes,” he adds.
Along with the clinics, the young golfers have 24/7 access to support via the Golf Coach app. This allows them to simply upload videos of their swing and form to the platform for coaches to view and provide feedback on.
“The clinics have helped me not only on the course but also off the course, enabling me to build relationships with others and helping me cope with the pressure,” says young champ, Daniel Bennett. The avid golfer not only broke the record at the 2023 Nomads South Africa Boys Under-19 Stroke Play Championship but also recently won first place in Boland Amateur Stroke Play in April.
Zinan Maimane also earned his stripes through the clinics, having recently won the Gauteng North Golf Union (GNGU) Closed A-Division by five shots. At the age of 15, the rising star is taking the game by storm, and dreams of becoming an international pro in the future.
“I hope to become a professional golfer on the PGA Tour one day and win at least one PGA Tour event along with any of the majors,” he says.
As an ongoing mission to empower ordinary people to be extraordinary and connect young people to endless opportunities, Vuma proudly sponsors, Bennett and Maimane. They are sponsored to attend golf clinics, participate in gold tournaments and pursue their golfing careers. Additionally, Maimane will also attend the Els for Autism Golf Day at the Bloemfontein Golf Club, taking place on 3 May, to raise funds for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families.
“The Els for Autism Golf Day is a day for fun and fundraising, where golfing professionals and amateurs get to play a friendly game all in the name of a good cause. All funds raised on the day will be donated to the Els for Autism Foundation towards much-needed therapy, education, and support to those impacted by ASD,” concludes Van Rensburg.
Businesses and individuals who would like to get more information on Els for Autism, sponsorship opportunities and details of how to donate can visit the official website at https://www.elsforautism.org/.
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About Vuma
Vuma is a leading South African fibre provider that has passed more than over 2 million homes since its operations began in 2014. Vuma connects South African communities to high-speed, fit-for-purpose internet through open-access fibre broadband. Working with more than 75 Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Vuma’s value extends beyond infrastructure and empowers ordinary individuals and communities across South Africa to do more, see more, and dream of more.
Guided by its philosophy of ‘because we can, we must’, Vuma strives to drive transformation and break communication barriers. The brand has connected more than 780 registered primary and high schools in the regions where it operates, to free 1Gbps fibre broadband internet. This supports hundreds of thousands of young people and their teachers through access to the boundless opportunities of the internet, in collaboration with its partner ISPs.
Among Vuma’s accolades are: South Africa’s Best Fibre Provider in 2019 at the MyBroadband Conference and Expo; Fastest Growing Broadband Provider in 2020 and Best Broadband Provider in 2021 by the International Business Magazine Awards; the Global Economics Award for Fastest Growing Telecommunications Company 2021; and Best Fibre Provider for 2021 by MyBroadband.
Vuma’s CEO, Dietlof Mare, was awarded Telecom CEO of the Year 2020 South Africa as well as Telecom CEO of the Year 2021 South Africa by the International Business Magazine Awards.
To find out more about Vuma fibre deals visit www.vumatel.co.za
