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Rollins College

Publication Date

Fall 2014

Program Name

South Africa: Community Health and Social Policy

Abstract

Prime Human Performance Institute is a new athletic facility situated in Moses Mabhida stadium that provides scientific support for athletes aspiring to achieve greatness within their specific discipline. However, even with the presence of high performance training centers like Prime, South Africa’s athletes have struggled to consistently compete at a world-class level in relation to other comparable nations.

The aim of this participant observation study was to observe and assess the quality of service provided by Prime Human Performance Institute, while briefly identifying the barriers that prevent South African athletes from utilizing a high performance center such as Prime to its full potential.

Over the course of three weeks, I gathered detailed information about the quality of service that Prime offers through formalized interviews, informal shadowing sessions, and daily observations with each of Prime’s sports science professionals and sport science clientele. Based off my observations, Prime has the capacity to provide world-class athletic training to South African athletes. However, I also noticed some barriers that restrict Prime’s impact, including unsupportive administration, ineffective funding allocation, talent misidentification, and general sports science education deficiency. Until these current barriers are removed, athletic training centers like Prime will never be fully utilized by South Africa’s athletes.

Disciplines

Sports Sciences

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