SASMA presidency: Dr Sharief Hendricks leaves on a high

Two years after being appointed president of the South African Sports Medicine Association (SASMA), Dr Sharief Hendricks – the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) senior lecturer in the Division of Physiological Sciences, and visiting professor at Leeds Beckett University in the United Kingdom (UK) – has handed over his post, leaving the organisation in a strong position.

Looking back, Dr Hendricks lauded the strength of the organisation, its steadfastness in becoming a key multidisciplinary node for other health professional associations, and the sustained growth that is yet to come. “It went quickly. And it resembles something like the Eisenhower matrix, where there are a lot of priorities set out, but because things are a moving target, something else takes over and you need to see to that. It’s not my full-time role, yet required my full attention to keep building the organisation,” he said.

Hendricks became the first non-sports physician to hold the two-year post, and he set out some priorities for the organisation when he began: transformation, creating a sustainable ecosystem, and giving community work the attention it deserves. Furthermore, he said, being a non-sports physician put him at “an advantage, because of my strength internationally and the journals I work with, and my general science and sports medicine science background”.

It became clear to Hendricks that increasing SASMA’s visibility would be key, and the organisation did this by launching a podcast and ensuring its presence in renowned sports medicine journals. As of October, the SASMA podcast had produced 23 episodes in 15 months resulting in 4 859 streams on all platforms, with a global reach going as far as the UK, United States, Australia and the Netherlands.

“We also created fellowships to recognise young researchers and clinicians, and this is key in building the SASMA base as they come through. What brought happiness was the support I received, as well as how our global footprint has grown over the years. We also put structures in place to grow the SASMA journal.”

Student membership

Hendricks ended his tenure after hosting a multi-disciplinary SASMA Congress in October, which brought together over 350 delegates with over 200 presentations. He was awarded lifetime membership of SASMA, at the age of 37, and will be able to impart his own experiences and lessons to the presidents who will come after him. Hendricks said that it has been a pleasure, along the way, to be able to bring along students from UCT into the realm of sports medicine and sports science.

“Students being involved is all about building our ecosystem, and they understand what SASMA is about, and our student base at UCT has been amazing. We built in SASMA student memberships as well during my tenure. Because students cannot pay the full membership, it meant we had to have a reduced payment option. What I have appreciated is SASMA being recognised as a home for other professional associations within South Africa to bring us all together.”