From 16 to 27 July 2025, eight student-athletes and a coach from Maties Sport Stellenbosch University will proudly represent South Africa at the FISU World University Games in the Rhine–Ruhr region of Germany.
The multi-sporting event will span over cities such as Bochum, Duisburg, Essen, Hagen, Mülheim, and even Berlin, where Maties Sport athletes will compete internationally.
Mire Reinstorf, who is one of the standout athletes heading to Germany, is a pole vaulter with a string of accolades to her name. As a national champion and previous international medallist, Mire is expected to be a strong contender for the podium in the women’s pole vault. Notably, at the 2025 USSA Athletics Championships held earlier this year, Mire surpassed her own record by clearing 4.35m an impressive feat that shattered her previous USSA record of 4.00m in 2022.
It’s her goal to compete at all the big international competitions for the next ten years and hopefully go professional. “I want to work towards becoming a finalist in all of the major events and getting into diamond league competitions and all those highly ranked competitions,” says Mire. Her consistency and technical precision make her a name to watch at the Games.
Jason Fogle is no stranger to wearing the green and gold. “When playing at international tournaments the level is extremely high, the matches are always going to be tough. However, representing South Africa makes the experience a lot more meaningful and important, which makes you fight so much harder for the match.” Jason told FISU.
Jason will be joined by fellow Maties tennis player, Erine Lategaan, a second-year student who will be making her international debut. “It is such an honour for me. I’m proud of myself that my hard work on and off the court has paid off. I am super excited to represent South Africa internationally, and I’m looking forward to seeing how I compete against the other international players!” says Erine.
Erine says she will only be focusing on what she does in the match instead of trying to get into the minds of other players. “It’s going to be more valuable than trying to get in their minds and try to overcome them by that,” explains Erine.
When asked how she manages her studies and sport, “It’s just time management, and now with the rain it’s quite difficult to get actual tennis practise in. So off-court training is quite important, if not more important actually than on-court, because you need to be fit to be able to play.”
She says she looks forward to the challenge and is grateful for the support of her family. “Tennis is quite an alone sport, so you need support from other people as well when you can’t support yourself sometimes on the court. It’s quite difficult, it’s so mental, but it is still fun.
Beyond athletics and tennis, Maties are well represented in rowing.
Adding expertise to the delegation, Graham Hood serves as a coach for rowing. Graham has been instrumental in the 5 rowing athletes preparation. “The guys have put in a massive effort. It’s been twice-a-day training, balancing gym, running, erging, and of course, rowing. Add to that the logistics, transporting boats, rigging, storage, and you begin to see the level of dedication required,” says Graham.
Despite juggling up to ten training sessions a week, the student-athletes have managed to stay on top of their academic responsibilities, many of them enrolled in challenging degrees like engineering and science.
“Time management is huge,” Maties rower, Merwe Engelbrecht explained. “There’s a lot of sacrifice involved, socially, personally – but the support from friends and the bond within the crew makes it manageable. We all understand the bigger goal.”
The team now shifts its focus to the final stretch of preparation before the Games. With aspirations to not just participate but to stand on the podium, the Maties rowers are determined to deliver results that reflect the effort, sacrifice, and spirit that brought them this far.
As Ryan Dellbridge summed it up: “We’re not just going to show face, we’re going to make the A final. Possibly medal. That’s the goal.”
As the WUG approach, Maties athletes and coaches are fine-tuning their preparation, training hard and staying mentally sharp. Beyond the medals, the presence of these student-athletes at the FISU Games speaks volumes about Maties’ high-performance unit, where sporting excellence is paired with academic discipline and character development. These athletes not only represent South Africa but also serve as role models to the next generation of Maties student-athletes.
By Jamie Wyngaardt
Photos by USSA