The City of Cape Town’s Recreation and Parks Department today hosted the fifth annual Cape Town Games at the Sarepta Sports and Recreation Centre in Kuils River. The event saw approximately 700 participants, aged between 12 and 17, vie for top honours.

The participants are the cream of the crop and had to make their way through various qualifying rounds to reach the finals, including:

• games at their local community recreation facility which involved more than 20 000 participants across the city
• sub-area level games featuring approximately 5 000 participants
• area-level games where they were among 3 000 participants

​​‘The idea behind the Cape Town Games is to provide a platform for people with a range of interests to develop their abilities and compete at a city-wide level, whether it is in board games, traditional games, pool, or table-tennis. Not everyone wants to put on a uniform and kick a ball across a goal line.

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‘One of the priorities of the City’s Organisational Development and Transformation Plan is to build integrated communities. Events like this do just that by catering for all young people and ensuring that our various programmes appeal to them.

‘This event and those leading up to it aim to encourage mass participation in physical activity and to showcase some of the activities taking place at the various community centres and recreation hubs in the city. It also gives those attending our programmes at the recreation centres an event to aim for and train towards,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security; and Social Services, Alderman JP Smith.

The event includes sporting codes such as table tennis, 4-a-side soccer, and netball as well as other games like pool, dominoes, chess, Marabaraba, board games, dibeke and drie stokkies, among others, in a competition format.

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​‘Events such as these empower our youth and promote higher self-esteem. The physical benefits for our participants include maintaining a healthy body, preventing chronic diseases, and learning the skills necessary to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Sports also has the profound ability to connect people. It cuts across social, religious and economic barriers and is one of the most significant peace-keeping tools in any community,’ said Alderman Smith.