Call for drilling and marching to be given official sports status

A drilling competition that started in Mitchell’s Plain has become interprovincial, despite still not being recognised as an official sport.

On Saturday 18 October the second interprovincial drilling and marching competition for the year will take place at the Jan Burger Sports Complex in Parow and teams from the Eastern and Northern Cape will be taking part.

The drilling and marching competition was started by then Mitchell’s Plain station commander Major General Jeremy Vearey in 2007 in response to a sharp decline in discipline at schools.

“He realised that an activity was needed that would teach youth discipline, respect for authority and encourage leadership skills,” said Cornelia Louw, the local organising committee (LOC) chair. “Marching and drilling was introduced as a diversion programme.”

Louw has worked in policing since 2006. She was the sports administrator at Mitchell’s Plain Police Station but left for Pretoria in 2010 after she was promoted to the Hawks. She returned to Cape Town in 2014 to work in the Hawks’ provincial cyber crime investigation unit.

Her main role as LOC chair is finding partners and funding.

Louw says that for the first 10 years, the programme had one sole funder but that funding has since dwindled. This has caused the competition to shrink but ironically, it still expanded. Interest from more schools and community squads, including in other provinces, has made the competition become interprovincial.

This year’s competition also has a new category: Trash Can Champs, which is about recycling, Louw said.

“A team of five fill as much refuse bags as possible in a given time at the competition but it has to be separated and sorted according to recycling categories like paper, plastic or tins. The team with the most bags wins first, second and third place trophies and medals,” Louw said.

Despite the scale and scope of the competition changing, investment remains a challenge. Many schools are also unable to secure coaches.

“If we can get government to acknowledge the sport and employ coaches and develop them, it would be great as they have a great passion for the kids and sport. The programme teaches self confidence, leadership skills and camaraderie,” Louw said.