GARDEN ROUTE | HESSEQUA SPORT NEWS - The president of the Western Cape Tug-of-War Federation lives right here in Mossel Bay and has achieved great feats for tug-of-war in South Africa.
He is also the chairman of Eden Tug-of-War.
Barries Barnard was the SA national tug-of-war team manager during world championships in Ireland, England and SA during the past five years. In Ireland the U23 team won a gold medal.
In 2011 he took the Van Kervel School team to a tournament in Switzerland. Raising the funds to attend was a feat in itself.
Van Kervel is a school in George for learners with special educational needs (LSEN). The school serves the coastal area from Swellendam to Plettenberg Bay and a good number of the children are from Mossel Bay.
Barnard says: "We qualified in SA to compete. We came second in SA as a school and then we were given the opportunity to go to the world championships or the GENSB (Germany, England, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium) Tournament. We chose the GENSB, which took place in Switzerland.
"There were 56 international teams. Van Kervel came 11th in its category. This was one of the highlights of my tug-of-war career and it changed things at Van Kervel. Because of the tour, there was a lot more interest in tug-of-war. The children realised they could compete among the best in the world."
Barnard points out that LSEN schools compete against one another in sport in South Africa, not against mainstream schools, so this achievement was a significant feather in the school's cap.
He has had an 18-year career in tug-of-war. He was based at Calitzdorp High School before he moved to Van Kervel in 2009. He is the head tug-of-war coach and in charge of tug-of-war at Van Kervel, where he is also one of the hostel masters and a teacher. Barnard comes home to Mossel Bay at weekends.
Proud
He is proud of the fact that this year's major tug-of-war competitions in South Africa still took place despite the lockdown and there was no spread of Covid-19 from these meetings.
"Every two weeks we had a large competition," Barnard says.
The SA Club Championships took place in Hartenbos in October. After that the SA Championships took place. In tug-of-war the clubs compete within their districts, such as the Eden district, not provinces.
The clubs join together to form a district team.
The Western Cape District Championships also went ahead this year despite Covid-19. There are four districts in the Western Cape, of which Eden is one.
Barnard says: "We did well with following Covid-19 protocols and scanning. With all the regulations in place, the events were successful."
Tug-of-war, of all the different sports in the country, gives everyone the most equal opportunity to compete, Barnard says.
No expensive kit is needed. The shoes are the most expensive.
Besides this advantage, Barnard points out: "With rugby, you need to be fast or big or strong, but in tug-of-war you need to have guts and heart and you compete in your weight division, so everyone has the same chance."
His dream is that "our senior teams also compete worldwide and win gold medals. Our juniors are of the world's best, but our senior teams could improve".
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