By Abigail Van Der Hoven
Please note: On 11 August and 12 August 2023, UCKAR hosted Intervarsity. This article was written before Intervarsity took place.
Rhodes Men's Rugby Team posing for team photo taken in front of crowd (12 August 2023). Photo taken by author.
Intervarsity is a large event that brings together numerous sporting codes from different universities to compete against one another. Objectively, this is what Intervarsity is, however, it is so much more than that. It is something that brings people together, and not just the sporting men and women involved. It includes university staff members, with welcoming and lunch-in events. It includes students as their friends are participating or it gives them an opportunity to socialize with many different characters. Sue Smailes puts it perfectly in her statement describing Intervarsity, “It’s gees, lots of gees. It’s all the students getting into their purple overalls, and everyone is very happy and excited.”.
It has been a long wait, with UCKAR’s last intervarsity taking place in 2019. UCKAR had planned on hosting in 2022, but unfortunately because of COVID, other universities were not ready as many of them were still conducting online learning. We finally arrived at the weekend many had been waiting for. Preparation is undergoing, teams are getting excited, and supporters are already planning which fixtures to go to and when.
Smailes comments on how she feels that recently, there have not been many events or opportunities that have given students reasons to be excited and that she thinks intervarsity is an event that everyone can be excited about. There has been much excitement in the sporting community as they had been given a large goal to work towards. With basketball increasing the number of practices they have, rowing going to Port Alfred as often as they can to increase their water time, and hockey bringing their teams together for practices. Babalwa Msiza, the Women’s Vice-Captain for the Rhodes Basketball club, states how excited she is for the weekend to come and how confident she is feeling in her team. Marc Marais, the Vice-Chair and Treasurer of the Rhodes Hockey club, expresses how much he and the club are looking forward to hosting NMU at home and creating “good vibes” at the hockey Astro. Additionally, he mentions how it is not only about the fixtures, but also the supporters. Marais states that he is “hoping for a lot of supporters to pull through and back the team.”
As mentioned above, Intervarsity has brought teams and people together. There is a sense of camaraderie in the atmosphere. UCKAR students have had the opportunity to meet new people as students from different universities come to support their respective teams. With Smailes and the Rhodes sporting teams feeling confident that they stand a good chance of winning, inter-team relations strengthen. A specific example in Basketball is Babalwa mentioning how she has noticed her team come back together in preparation for the event. This extends to our supporters. Supporters who go to fixtures to watch a friend participating, who then bring their friends along, and the chain continues. The event's fixtures should be bringing a group of people in one space, filled with excitement and happiness. One can only imagine what it was like.
Rhodes Basketball Men's and Women's Captains posing in the Intervarsity Captain's photos (29 July 2023). Photo taken by author.
Additionally, this has put Rhodes back on the map. Sue says that she believes “everyone underestimates us” (us being Rhodes University sports), and this statement doesn’t only extend to perspectives outside of UCKAR, but also within. The teams lived up to the potential they believed they have, and a sense of confidence has been instilled in UCKAR’s sporting and what it could achieve.
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