About the Zylstra Sports Complex
The Zylstra Family and the Skye Foundation Trust have made an extraordinary legacy gift to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) for the development of the Wits Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex on the Wits Parktown Education Campus.
Project Background
This new development forms part of Wits’ long-term plan to redevelop the western half of the Parktown Education Campus to provide a shared public, academic, research and sport space as part of the broader ‘Wits Sport and Health Precinct’. The ultimate intention is to improve the health and well-being of a broad range of South Africans by developing amongst our students, and in the wider Wits and Johannesburg communities, a lifestyle that incorporates regular exercise as an integral component of everyday life. Aligned with this is a need to expand on, and improve, the care available to this invigorated and active society and the specialist services that support high-performance sports people.
Benefits
- Improved understanding of sports science, sports-related health (and well-being) and sports medicine
- The establishment of sports and exercise medicine as a medical specialty
- Improved clinical sports medicine services for the university and greater Johannesburg region
- Increased academic and research outputs across multiple disciplines
- Expansion and enhancement of existing services and facilities
- Incorporating research for evidence-enhanced services
Advisory Board
An advisory board of all stakeholders is led by the WZSC Board, which is composed of:
- Representative for the Wits Vice Chancellor's office
- The WiSH Director
- The Head of School of Therapeutic Sciences
- The Head of School of Clinical Medicine
- The Director of Wits Sport
- The Finance Officer of the Wits Health Consortium
- Representative from the Wits Innovation Hub
- The COO of the WZSC