From Northlink College student to World Student Games Medal Winner

Sonja van der Merwe (far right) together with her fellow 4x400m relay team

Sonja van der Merwe (far right) together with her fellow 4x400m relay team

The quality of students that Northlink College produces nowadays is definitely something to be proud of, from Theodore Jantjies who studied drama and plays Xander in 7de laan, to Northlink’s newest star, Sonja van der Merwe. Who was recently chosen to represent the USSA team at the World Student Games 2013 which was held from 6-17 July in Russia.
The World Student Games 2013, which is now in its 27th edition, and is held every second year, was held in the city of Kazan, Russia this year. Sonja van der Merwe, who is a third year sports management student at the Tygerberg Campus, was one of the 27 students chosen from approximately 10 universities and colleges in South Africa.
Sonja, who is originally from Vanderbjilpark, Gauteng, chose to study sports management as a career choice as she would like to take up teaching sports. Sonja takes part in not only the 400m, she also takes part in the 100m, 200m, “The 200m and 400m is my favourite” says the athlete.
Sonja moved to Citrusdal with her family, when she was nearly 5 years old. She then stayed with a teacher, when she attended high school, at High School Tygerberg, for her entire high school career.
“Kelly Homes, Double Olympic Champion in 800m and 1500m, she inspires me because she had the ability to receive the title with hard work and dedication” says Sonja, who is a hard worker and dedicates her time to coaching younger children in Netball and Athletics.
“In total I have 188 medals of which 16, I’ve won this year” says van der Merwe who has being doing athletics for 14 years, who also recently won a bronze medal for the 4x400m relay. She is a dedicated student who previously tried out various sports such as swimming, tennis and even gymnastics but athletics and netball were her first choices.
When asked how she deals with the pressure of knowing the whole of South Africa is depending on her to make the country proud she answered “I was confident enough not to stress that much. There was a little bit of stress, but I could control it to a level so that I could compete under difficulties.”
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) wanted the team to win at least 10 medals; the team surprised everybody and came home with 11 medals that helped South Africa to be placed second in the world at the games, whereas they placed 8th on the medals table, which is definitely something SASCOC and the participants should be extremely proud of.
Wise words for your fellow students, “Time management, dedication, hard work and
We would like to congratulate Sonja and the rest of the USSA team for all their winnings and for making South Africa proud and also to wish Sonja good luck on all her future sporting events.

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