By: Samukelisiwe Nzimande

Moses Mabhida Stadium was abuzz with various fitness activities taking place on Saturday during the Sports Health Fitness Exchange.

From well-known activities like Hop-Squats and jumping rope to childhood favourite’s three tins and magalope, the day was off to a powerful start.

The real sweating started when the aerobics classes began. The classes consisted of various exercise drills including cardio and boxing, where participants’ stamina and fitness were tested. The four-hour segment was the most popular throughout the day and everyone took part of it, regardless of age or gender.

Netball and soccer teams fought for bragging rights in their divisional competitions. Major government departments also had teams participating in the games. The Department of Health’s soccer team displayed complete dominance in their matches.

They won one of their matches 9-3 when they played against the eThekwini Municipality. Department of Health player, Phumlani Dlamini said, “I feel very excited obviously because my team is leading and I was able to contribute to three goals.”

Max Lifestyle, Ithala and The Durban University of Technology are just some of the teams that participated in the games.

Simultaneously taking place was the Netball competition. eThekwini Municipality also had the Durban Metro Police participating.

Competition was stiff with many coaches losing more than just their bearings over match umpire’s decisions. The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) Netball Team coach, Simo Kunene was not pleased with most of the umpires’ decisions during the competition.

“We played well, our games were good and we were well prepared. It was just the standard of the umpires that was lacking and it’s something that the organisers need to look at for next year,” Kunene added.

Fun activities were also available for the children. A playground area was equipped with an arts and crafts section, face painting and sports section. They were exposed to miniature golf, basketball and soccer.

*Caption: Workers from different parts of the event gather together around the SHF banner.