Ikey Tigers get stuck into change room

Backs step aside – the Ikeys heavies got to work on the concrete pillars
Last weekend, the UCT Ikey Tigers Varsity Cup squad did a change room upgrade blitz, that doubled up as a team-building exercise. Almost 30 players went to work under the guidance of project managers – Eagles and 3rd team prop Wilke Brink and 2009 captain Bodo Sieber and turned things around within a couple of hours.

UCT’s main change room was in desperate need to of some love, with crumbling paint and moisture damage all over the walls. After management had decided “The Cage” – the Ikey Tigers trusted change room behind the Pub – would be too small and too hot during the VC summer games, the players went to work and upgraded what will be their base for the upcoming home games in February and March.

The squad was split up into groups – the scrapers, the painters, the demolishion squad and the cleaners – and soon after the change room was bustling with madness, grinders, dust, noise and paint. The room and the benches were originally divided up by concrete pillars, which were removed by the players, the rest of the work involved a heavy handed facelift -  scraping, painting and cleaning up the epic mess.

The amount of manpower was put to good use, as just 4 hours later the changeroom looked good as new and ready for action.

While the squad had a lot of fun with sledge hammers, angle grinders and paint rollers, they also got to give something back to their club and the club’s teams that support them so well.

The Varsity Cup team will put the “new” facilities to good use during the tournament, until the 1st team moves back into The Cage once the league starts in April. Then all other UCT teams will benefit from the upgraded area when they gear up for the 2010 season.

Thanks again to everyone who got involved.

Grant Kemp and Dayne “Danger” Jans – skilled plastic surgeons

Pallo Manuel – ladder? Never heard of it.

Don Armand loving the dust – Bodo “The Door” Sieber in the background

Sharief Hendricks finishes Dangers job

Another pillar bites the dust

Synchronised painting 

Bodo Sieber and Don Armand discuss the next phase

Moving onto the main area, once the dust had settled – Mike Ledwidge, Jannie Bester, Sharief Hendricks and Marcel Brashe

Rob Talotti, Danger and Egg

Waiting to clear away another concrete slab

Simba, Marvin Christians, Wes Chetty and Nick Groom finish the shower area

The grinders noise stopped and was replaced by chants of “The Warrior Poet” the Ikeys team song

Andre “Spies” Goosen, Kuselo “Predator” Moyake, and Kyle Wickens add some touches

Sipho Evans only found out later the paint wasn’t water based

Good as new – the changeroom after the 4 hour blitz.