Student athletes are the backbone of varsity culture. They’re the basis for school spirit, and our representatives in century-long rivalries. But many of them remain unknown and their efforts unappreciated. In this series, we’re bringing UCT’s unsung sporting heroes into the spotlight, starting with Oti Kekana, the Kickboxing Physicist.
Oti grew up playing rugby, but fell in love with the Rocky movies. The passion grew from there. He just had to get into boxing. He found a local boxing gym and trained there until it closed down. When he came to UCT, he found the kickboxing club.
Oti is a student first. He took his first year to settle in and make sure his academics wouldn’t tank. When he proved to himself and his parents that he could cope, he started training. At first, he only missed a session if there was no other option; it became part of him. In his third year, his attitude changed, and he started seeing himself as more of a student-athlete than an athlete-student. He started taking semester breaks from training.
He’s now working towards his master’s degree in physics and helping out in the subcommittee (and fighting) for the UCT kickboxing team. Oti is smart. He’s a scientist in boxing’s fabled “sweet science”. You can see it in his fighting style, which he describes as “clinical”.
“I think it’s a cliché,” he says, “but kickboxing is a smart man’s game. Not a tough man’s game.”
Oti figured out how to juggle it all: academics, kickboxing, and a social life. He said that this balancing game wasn’t without its sacrifices. He’d sometimes had to miss social events to study; he found that staying sober allowed his cuts to heal faster, and romance was never a priority. To him, it was just what needed to be done: “I felt like I made a commitment to myself. I vowed to myself that I must make sure I succeed in this.”
He’s passionate about fitness, and tries to push himself to the best of his ability, going against the current fitness trends that encourage unhealthy habits. “I want to show that this is the extent of the human body, so I never took any supplements,” he says. “I just ate mom’s cooking and did home workouts. That’s the bare minimum that everyone should have.”
When asked if he had any advice for his fellow student-athletes, he says to trust the process. “Everything will work out if you work hard enough for it.”