GERT ENGELBRECHT, RESPECTED ADMINISTRATOR AND COACH, PASSES AWAY
By Riël Hauman
South African athletics lost one of its most experienced and respected administrators and coaches with the death after a long illness of Gert Engelbrecht on Monday, 9 January. Engelbrecht, who was 71, passed away in the hospital in Mossel Bay, where he and wife Elize were on holiday.
Engelbrecht's most outstanding achievement in athletics administration is probably his tenure as Chairman of the track section of Bellville Athletics Club, which lasted from 1982 until his death. Very few club chairmen in South Africa, if any, can point to such a long service to the sport.
Engelbrecht also served as representative of Bellville AC on the provincial body, Western Province Athletics (WPA), from 1982 to 1993. He was a member of the WPA Track and Field Commission from 1982 to 2007 and treasurer of the Commission from 1993 to 2007.
He started coaching, specifically the hammer throw, in 1994 and was an IAAF Level 2 coach since 1998. Athletes coached by him won 23 medals at SA Championships and represented South Africa at the World Junior Championships, CAA All Africa Championships and the Southern Region Student Games.
Engelbrecht was manager of WP senior and junior teams from 1997 to 2014 and was a member of the local organising committee of the World Cross-country Championships which were held in Stellenbosch in 1996. He qualified as a timekeeper and field events official in 1989 and later became a referee in both disciplines. He was also a qualified equipment assizer and trained officials in the skills of assizing.
He joined the Committee of the Bellville Sport Federation (BSF), which was formed to assist all sports clubs in Cape Town's northern suburbs, in 1984 and became Vice-chairman six years later. The BSF changed its name to the Tygerberg Sport Board of Control (Bellville area) in 2000, and Engelbrecht served until 2006, when he became Chairman of the Forum of District 4 until 2013.
Engelbrecht, who played rugby for the False Bay Rugby Club in his younger days and represented Western Province in the hammer throw for several years, organised the first street mile in the province in 1986. It was run along Voortrekker Road from the Bellville Civic Centre to the old Bellville athletics track.
His daughter Marilize (later Coetzee) was coached by Engelbrecht and twice won the gold medal in the hammer throw at the SA u.23 Championships; she was WP senior champion on twenty occasions. She also won the title at the Southern Region Student Games in 1997 and was SA Students champion three times. She represented WP from 1995 to 2016.
Among the other athletes coached by him were Elmarie Knoetzen, who held the SA record until 2012 and won two SA titles; JD Wiggins, SA junior and WP junior and senior champion; Tiaan Naudé, WP junior and senior champion; Johan Kruger, who was WP junior champion and won silver and bronze medals at the SA Championships; Carissa van Beeck, WP champion; Gavin Shaw and Arno van der Westhuizen, both SA junior as well as WP junior and senior champions; and Eliska van der Merwe, WP junior champion.
Among his development activities, Engelbrecht found accommodation and jobs for Bobang Phiri and Esau Faro in Cape Town. Phiri represented the country at the Olympic Games when South Africa was reinstated in 1992 and at the Commonwealth Games two years later, while Faro represented Western Province in track, road and cross-country and is still actively involved in coaching junior athletes.
Engelbrecht was born in Langebaan on 24 February 1946 and moved to Cape Town in 1956, where he matriculated at Zwaanswyk High School in 1965. He studied to become a scientist at Karl Bremer and Groote Schuur hospitals and in 2007 became head of the Microsurgery Department at Tygerberg Medical School.
Engelbrecht leaves his wife Elize, also a well-known athlete, coach and administrator, daughter Marilize, son-in-law Fanie and two grandchildren, Mieke and Corne.
By Riël Hauman
South African athletics lost one of its most experienced and respected administrators and coaches with the death after a long illness of Gert Engelbrecht on Monday, 9 January. Engelbrecht, who was 71, passed away in the hospital in Mossel Bay, where he and wife Elize were on holiday.
Engelbrecht's most outstanding achievement in athletics administration is probably his tenure as Chairman of the track section of Bellville Athletics Club, which lasted from 1982 until his death. Very few club chairmen in South Africa, if any, can point to such a long service to the sport.
Engelbrecht also served as representative of Bellville AC on the provincial body, Western Province Athletics (WPA), from 1982 to 1993. He was a member of the WPA Track and Field Commission from 1982 to 2007 and treasurer of the Commission from 1993 to 2007.
He started coaching, specifically the hammer throw, in 1994 and was an IAAF Level 2 coach since 1998. Athletes coached by him won 23 medals at SA Championships and represented South Africa at the World Junior Championships, CAA All Africa Championships and the Southern Region Student Games.
Engelbrecht was manager of WP senior and junior teams from 1997 to 2014 and was a member of the local organising committee of the World Cross-country Championships which were held in Stellenbosch in 1996. He qualified as a timekeeper and field events official in 1989 and later became a referee in both disciplines. He was also a qualified equipment assizer and trained officials in the skills of assizing.
He joined the Committee of the Bellville Sport Federation (BSF), which was formed to assist all sports clubs in Cape Town's northern suburbs, in 1984 and became Vice-chairman six years later. The BSF changed its name to the Tygerberg Sport Board of Control (Bellville area) in 2000, and Engelbrecht served until 2006, when he became Chairman of the Forum of District 4 until 2013.
Engelbrecht, who played rugby for the False Bay Rugby Club in his younger days and represented Western Province in the hammer throw for several years, organised the first street mile in the province in 1986. It was run along Voortrekker Road from the Bellville Civic Centre to the old Bellville athletics track.
His daughter Marilize (later Coetzee) was coached by Engelbrecht and twice won the gold medal in the hammer throw at the SA u.23 Championships; she was WP senior champion on twenty occasions. She also won the title at the Southern Region Student Games in 1997 and was SA Students champion three times. She represented WP from 1995 to 2016.
Among the other athletes coached by him were Elmarie Knoetzen, who held the SA record until 2012 and won two SA titles; JD Wiggins, SA junior and WP junior and senior champion; Tiaan Naudé, WP junior and senior champion; Johan Kruger, who was WP junior champion and won silver and bronze medals at the SA Championships; Carissa van Beeck, WP champion; Gavin Shaw and Arno van der Westhuizen, both SA junior as well as WP junior and senior champions; and Eliska van der Merwe, WP junior champion.
Among his development activities, Engelbrecht found accommodation and jobs for Bobang Phiri and Esau Faro in Cape Town. Phiri represented the country at the Olympic Games when South Africa was reinstated in 1992 and at the Commonwealth Games two years later, while Faro represented Western Province in track, road and cross-country and is still actively involved in coaching junior athletes.
Engelbrecht was born in Langebaan on 24 February 1946 and moved to Cape Town in 1956, where he matriculated at Zwaanswyk High School in 1965. He studied to become a scientist at Karl Bremer and Groote Schuur hospitals and in 2007 became head of the Microsurgery Department at Tygerberg Medical School.
Engelbrecht leaves his wife Elize, also a well-known athlete, coach and administrator, daughter Marilize, son-in-law Fanie and two grandchildren, Mieke and Corne.