Wits University out to create ‘magic’ with new sports science centre

Wits University is looking to take local sport and exercise science to a new level with the soon-to-be-opened R300m Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex that will house an anti-doping testing laboratory, among myriad other services.

South Africa’s previous drug-testing laboratory in Bloemfontein lost its World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) accreditation last year.

And that’s just one aspect of the state-of-the-art centre on Wits’s education campus that is set to open on September 1, said Prof Georgia Torres, the complex’s COO and head of the university’s department of exercise science and sports medicine.

Yesterday evening VIPs and sponsors were given a sneak preview of the facility that will include four gyms, six laboratories, a heated indoor Olympic-sized pool and a full spectrum of medical services to cater from elite sports to injuries and chronic illnesses.

Gym equipment, which is being imported, is fitted with AI so every person’s metrics are recorded and measured, with the data also being incorporated anonymously for research.

They will offer a flume pool, where jets of water allow a swimmer to remain stationary, making it possible to measure VO2 max and blood lactate. It will be fitted with hoists for disabled patients.

Most powerful prescription

“The concept is ... to integrate the best of sports medicine and exercise science for the betterment of academic training, research, and service delivery for sports injuries and other exercise-related medical conditions,” said Prof Jon Patricios, director of Wits Sport and Health (Wish).

Exercise, he added, was the most powerful prescription.

While the centre will focus predominantly on health, Patricios believes it will also boost Wits’s sporting prowess to match those enjoyed by rivals like Pretoria, Free State and Stellenbosch univerisities.

Dean Price, the head of high performance at Swimming South Africa, will oversee the swimming programme while two-time Paralympic champion Tadhg Slattery will head disability swimming.

The artistic swimming programme will be run by Team Phoenix, arguably the country’s most successful outfit in that discipline.

The centre aims to serve the wider Johannesburg community, including Soweto.

Under one roof

For Torres, the key is the integration between the different forms of expertise, from cardiovascular and orthopaedic specialists to physiotherapists and biokineticists. “The beauty of this building is that it’s all under one roof,” said Torres.

“There’s a proximity of place that allows for the formation of an interdisciplinary clinical team, which enables process to impact human performance and health.”

Torres first learned the importance of integration while working with renowned physiotherapist Lou-Ann Rivett more than a quarter of a century ago.

She was subsequently recruited to work with the women’s 2004 Olympic hockey team as a strength and conditioning coach, and Rivett as the physio. “[The team coach] would say, ‘I’m not seeing player X run well — fix it!’ and Lou-Ann and I addressed it through integrated work relationships.

“This is why I’m so hung up on the Wits Zylstra Sports Complex being an integrated, interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals across sports performance and health span. It must be a team approach. Then we can create magic.”