Extreme cyber-makeover for sport at UCT

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More than just a committee list.

This is what you can expect to find on the sporting portal website of SASSU-UCT.

Sassu-UCT represents in the region of 7 000 registered sports students and some 1 000 staff, and an estimated 4 000 students engage in sporting activities.

A total of 12 000 people will potentially interact with Sassu-UCT.

You may be asking what the acronym Sassu stands for.

Formalities out the way, it stands for South African Students Sports Union, and a regional branch exists right here at UCT in the form of an executive made up of nine members.

Avoiding a background lesson in Sassu's function - to develop, promote, provide opportunities in student sport, ensure maximum participation in student sport, encourage excellence in academic and sports arenas - I will not focus on what Sassu is or does but talk about what we have launched online.

What struck me candidly already back in 2004 (when I was an additional member of Sassu-UCT) was the fact that Sassu-UCT had a completely feeble excuse for an online presence on the then current website.

What resembled a child's crayon drawing was in fact the website that represented Sassu-UCT.

If representations were anything to go by, then Sassu-UCT could have been run by a group of less than capable students.

Fortunately for student sport, that was not the case in 2004.

I put it down to a lack of computing skills and a shortage of motivation to change things.

I found support from Ramzi Solomon, the 2004 Sassu-UCT chair, to make better efforts in the website department and the general promotion of sport.

If people are going to deal with sport seriously at UCT, then a professional, at least acceptable, image of sport needs to be created.

Then has come and gone and a handful of quotes, late-night content-collection sessions and one generous sponsor later, Sassu-UCT can proudly present the new face of sport, at least online.

What excites us most at Sassu-UCT about a professional website is that the possibilities are vast.

The nature of organisations such as Sassu-UCT lend well to prolific means of communication, which a modern, dynamic and professional website can capture.

Sassu-UCT has committed itself to promoting sport at UCT with a strategic campaign.

A Sassu-UCT sports feature exists on UCT Radio (DIY show Mondays and Wednesdays, 07h00 to 09h00), content is supplied to Monday Paper, and last, but not least, our very own website to serve as an online sporting portal.

All you need to know about what sport can do for you at UCT, sporting news, events calendars, feature stories, sports awards winners, FAQs, Sassu national roster, links to sports club sites, contacts, club funding applications, can be found on www.sportsclubs.uct.ac.za/sassu.

"My goal is to make this project completely sustainable and totally independent of myself within a year," is what I wrote in the opening line of my website brief to create-ideas.com, the generous sponsors of the Sassu-UCT website.

Sustainability is precisely what we are striving to achieve and all we need now is a sponsor relationship.

With such a great website, we are confident we can find such a relationship.

For more information, go to www.sportsclubs.uct.ac.za/sassu, or contact JJ at 082 785 8520, or e-mail dcsjos001@mail.uct.ac.za.

You can also contact Herbert Mayosi (PR officer) at hmayosi@yahoo.com, or Create-ideas.com (website sponsors) at raquel@create-ideas.com.

JJ de Castro Maia