18 July 2005

A group of 20 young South African sailors will get their first taste of the international sailing scene when they participate in the International German Youth Championships hosted in Germany in July this year.

Yacht Clubs with existing development sailing programmes were invited to nominate candidates for a ground-breaking youth exchange programme between South Africa and Germany.

The programme is one of three pillars of T-Systems' high-tech sailing sponsorship strategy. T-Systems, an IT & Telecommunications company, which is part of the Deutsche Telekom, announced its R100-million investment in South Africa for the America's Cup Challenge Team Shosholoza earlier this year. The investment is one of the largest international investments in a South African sports team.

The youth exchange programme is co-ordinated by the Cape Town-based Royal Cape Yacht Club and the North German Regatta (NRV) in Hamburg. The Royal Cape Yacht Club is the official South African America's Cup Challenge Club.

The youths participating in the programme, aged between 13 and 19, will have the unique opportunity of receiving expert coaching at a training camp in preparation for the International German Youth Championships.

"We wanted to make this opportunity as inclusive as possible, the idea was not necessarily to look for the best performer, but rather young people who would benefit most from an exchange programme," said Mr Russell Vollmer, Commodore of Cape Town's Royal Cape Yacht Club.

The three groups; Optimists Class (under 15 age group), Laser Radial (under 19 age group) and the 420 Class (under 19 age group) will spend three weeks abroad and plans to kick-off a reciprocal exchange programme to invite German youths to South Africa is on the cards for next year.

"Developing young South African talent is important to T-Systems and as an international company we are in a position to facilitate opportunities like this. We need to raise the awareness of sailing as a truly South African sport and by investing in our youth we believe we are helping to pave the way towards achieving this," says Mr. Wolfgang Jakob, CEO of T-Systems South Africa.

The company views its sponsorship of Team Shosholoza and the youth exchange programme as another way of expanding its involvement in the field of high-tech sailing, which is emblematic of T-Systems' positioning within the market.

"For us the reward of the youth exchange programme is seeing the difference it makes in the personal and professional lives of these teens. We are excited to see them develop their talent and make waves on the international scene," says Jakob.