Jordy’s all jacked up to navigate the high seas to top

IN IT TO WIN IT: Jordy Malherbe and the German paddling team go all out during their preparations at Nahoon for the upcoming Sprint Championships Picture: SUPPLIED
IN IT TO WIN IT: Jordy Malherbe and the German paddling team go all out during their preparations at Nahoon for the upcoming Sprint Championships Picture: SUPPLIED
An opportunity to make the big- time in canoeing is on the cards for Stirling High School Grade 10 pupil Jordy Malherbe.

He has been hard at work training to compete in the SA Canoe Sprint Championships at Roodeplaat Dam near Pretoria next week.

Malherbe, at just 15 years old, has gained valuable experience through the partnership between the Canoe Federation of Lower Saxony in Germany and the Eastern Cape Canoe Union which is a programme that has run for the past five years.

He’s been camping with the nine German paddlers who are in EL for a 10-day training camp in Nahoon.

“The camp has been fun and pretty intense at the same time but Jan Francik is a good coach because he gives us enough rest. So it’s been a good training camp for me with the guys from Germany.

“I’ve learned quite a lot from it but the first few days of the camp weren’t that nice. It was rainy but now since it’s nice and sunny it’s been good we’ve been able to train well,” said Malherbe. The young athlete who won first place in the U14 K1 1000-metres and 2000m at the Northern German championships in 2016, said for him going to the Sprints gave him the hope of reaching his childhood dream.

“I want to go to the Olympics and try and get a medal there, but now I’m hoping to win the South African championships next week.

“I feel very confident about that because I have been canoeing since I was 10 years old and racing professionally for about three years.

“When I’m older I’ll go into coaching because I enjoy working with Border Canoeing Club to train the kids.”

Francik, who is coaching the nine paddlers including Malherbe, said that due to the extreme winter conditions in Germany it was not possible to prepare for the European Championships.

“We always come here with our paddlers. Because of the weather – they have enough training and when the summer comes in Germany they are able to qualify for the national team. Sometimes they are able to get medals in the World Championships,” said Francik.

He said the partnership with Border Canoeing and the provincial Sports Department has been beneficial to all parties involved.

“The talent here is incredible if you look at Jordy you can see that and last year we also had a young team in Germany from here. They did very well in the competitions we had there and we can see that we need to continue this partnership because it works for both countries.”

Border Canoe Club Academy coach and coordinator, Beth Burton said they have learnt a lot from the exchange programme.

“We’ve also been to Germany twice and we hope this partnership continues for a very long time so paddlers like Jordy continue to learn from other cultures.”

DSRAC spokesman Andile Nduna said the province has a twinning agreement with Germany which has spanned for more than 20 years.

“There are exchange programmes in the field of sport and recreation, arts and culture. The department has been in the forefront of benefiting from it. On the sport and recreation side, we have seen canoeists, athletes, football teams, open boxing and referees benefiting through this programme.”

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