USSASA PRESENTATION TO
PARLIAMENT ON 01 MARCH
2005
USSASA BACKGROUND
USSASA is the National organisation coordinating school sport in South Africa.
It is recognised by government and
SASCOC in this role.
USSASA is a multi-coded
organisation modelled on the sports
structure of a school. It is made up
of a National Executive Committee
supervising 26 Code Committees,
an Indigenous Games Committee
as well as an LSEN Committee.
(This national structure together
with representatives from all the
Provinces and Regions make up the
National General Council)
USSASA has 9 Provincial structures
which are similar to the National
structure, 44 Regional structures,
206 District/Zone structures and
1114 Circuit/Sub-Zone structures to
which about 30 000 schools are
affiliated.
The biggest problem at the moment
is that there is no funding available
for all the activities taking place at
Regional, District and Circuit levels;
while National and Provincial
activities are partly funded. Poor
children still do not fully enjoy their
right to participate in sport.
14 million learners and more than
300 000 educators, parents and
other volunteers are involved in the
organisation at all levels – from
School to International.
Considering that most learners
participate in at least 2 and some up
to 6 codes of sport for both
recreational as well as high
performance purposes, it can be
estimated that participation levels in
school sport can reach 40 million if
there was sufficient funding.
The Codes played under USSASA
are :
Aquatics
Baseball
Chess
Drummies
Golf
Hockey
Pool
Squash
Tennis
Indigenous
games
Athletics
Basketball
Cricket
Equestrian
Gymnastics
Korfball
Rugby
Softball
Volleyball
Badminton
Boxing
Dance Sport
Football
Handball
Netball
Shooting
Table Tennis
LSEN Codes
RELATIONSHIPS WITH SENIOR
FEDERATIONS
USSASA has healthy relations with
most of the Federations whose sport
codes are played at school level.
USSASA has a responsibility to
ensure that relations with all its
Senior Federations are good. The
assistance of the SASCOC board may
be needed in this regard.
USSASA AFFILIATIONS
USSASA is affiliated to the
Confederation of School Sports
Associations of Southern Africa
(COSSASA) and the International
Schoolsport Federation (ISF).
USSASA is an Associate member of
SASCOC. All ‘Team South Africa’
responsibilities of USSASA have been
transferred to SASCOC. We are very
happy that SASCOC has set up a
School Sport Commission to take
care of this.
The placement of the MASS
PARTICIPATION component of
USSASA has still not been fully
addressed.
USSASA understands that
government has accepted all MASS
PARTICIPATION responsibilities in
sport. The details of the delivery
structures thereof have not yet been
discussed and finalised with all
affected stakeholders.
NEED FOR STATUTORY RECOGNITION
FOR USSASA AS PART OF THE MASS
PARTICIPATION DELIVERY STRUCTURE
The statutory recognition, appreciation
and protection of some 300 000
volunteers delivering Mass
Participation and Sport-for-all
programmes for millions of learners in
our country needs to be seriously
considered.
The alternative would be for
government to employ thousands of
coaches, officials and administrators.
Such a structure would possibly take
the shape of the Arts Councils / the
Aids Council / the HSRC or the CSIR
etc.
Such a structure would also facilitate
co-operation between various
departments for addressing various
government priorities (Crime;
HIV/Aids; Poverty; etc).
There may also be a need to regulate
the functioning and funding of such a
structure to ensure the effectiveness
and efficiency of the envisaged
programmes; as well as its
relationship with National
Federations.
Such legislation would also go a long
way to easing the beaurocratic
tensions between the Education and
Sports Departments at National and
Provincial levels.
USSASA PROGRAMMES
USSASA runs development
programmes from National level
cascading to the local level and
schools. These are mainly human
resource development projects
(admin; coaching; technical) but
sometimes include supply of
equipment, provision of facilities and
upgrading of facilities. All these
depend on available sponsorship or
funding
USSASA and all its structures
organises recreational and
competitive events at all levels.
SCHOOL-TO-NATIONAL LEVEL EVENTS
Aquatics
Winter Games
Summer Games
Sponsored events :
Chappies
MTN
Shoprite
Athletics
Cross Country
Kay Motsepe
Lovelife
Games
INTERNATIONAL LEVEL EVENTS
COSSASA Athletics
COSSASA Ball Games :
Football; Netball;
Volleyball; Basketball
ISF Championships :
teams)
Swimming;
Basketball;
Gymnastics;
Handball.
Athletics ;
Volleyball;
Table Tennis;
(School
Tennis;
Football;
Badminton;
ISF Gymnasiade :
(Representative teams – Every 4
years))
Athletic; Aquatics; Gymnastics
Pacific School Games :
(Representative teams – Every 4
years)
Athletics; Aquatics; Basketball; (For the different
ability groups)
USSASA ADMINISTRATION
USSASA National Office
Rented Office
Office Furniture and equipment
Running expenses for the office
Support for the structure
Staffing requirements:
1 General Manager
4 Managers
6 support staff
Provincial and Regional Offices
Office space
Furniture and equipment
Running expenses for the office
Support for the structure
Staffing requirements: Office Manager
Support staff
TRANSFORMATION OF SPORT IN S.A.
USSASA’S ROLE
USSASA’s potential to contribute
towards the transformation of sports
in South Africa is guaranteed by the
existence of its structures in all
corners of South Africa.
The success of its interventions
depend on the availability of funds to
take ALL sport codes to ALL the
corners of the country
Talent Identification and
Development must happen (and
accurate records must be kept) from
the lowest level (Circuit level) of the
structure.
A very close relationship between the
USSASA structures and the Sports
Academy system is crucial for this.
Regular recreational and competitive
sports activities must happen (and
be seen to be happening) at Circuit
and District level.
USSASA volunteers must be kept
motivated (especially those operating
at the lower levels) to drive these
processes.
Identified talent must be fed into the
academy system and the
development programmes of the
Senior Federations.
The best talent within a school and
from Circuit activities must be
directed to the local clubs. (USSASA
must continue providing
opportunities for all other learners)
Emerging talent at District and
Regional events must be directed to
the Satellite academies for further
development and mentoring.
Talent identified at Provincial and
National events must be directed to
the Provincial and the National
Academies.
USSASA must have dedicated TID
managers/officials at all levels of the
structure.