Calling all South African Cubers

An entire continent has yet to host an official competition when countries (eg the USA) host comps every other weekend.
South Africa kicks everyone's asses in Rugby and Cricket, and if they gave us the chance, we'd kick their asses in speedcubing too ;)
 
DuffyEdge said:
An entire continent has yet to host an official competition when countries (eg the USA) host comps every other weekend.
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You gotta organize one - it's not automatic ;p. It'll be a little expensive (you would have to rent a room for a day, fly a delegate there, and get timers) but if someone wants to enough it's totally doable. South Africa could definitely hold a few if people there would put in the time, money, and effort to put it together. It's a lot of work but nothing impossible. If you personally want to help, a good first step is to find South Africans who have been to a competition and get them on the organization team, or at least get advice.

Incidentally, there's no special bias or anything with the US or Europe, we just have more cubers with more total competition experience (more past comps => more people who have been to several competitions => more people who could hold their own competition in future). To be fair, most of Africa is not in any condition to hold Rubik's cube competitions, but as for South Africa, it could absolutely handle a few competitions a year.
 
qqwref said:
You gotta organize one - it's not automatic ;p. It'll be a little expensive (you would have to rent a room for a day, fly a delegate there, and get timers) but if someone wants to enough it's totally doable. South Africa could definitely hold a few if people there would put in the time, money, and effort to put it together. It's a lot of work but nothing impossible. If you personally want to help, a good first step is to find South Africans who have been to a competition and get them on the organization team, or at least get advice.

Incidentally, there's no special bias or anything with the US or Europe, we just have more cubers with more total competition experience (more past comps => more people who have been to several competitions => more people who could hold their own competition in future). To be fair, most of Africa is not in any condition to hold Rubik's cube competitions, but as for South Africa, it could absolutely handle a few competitions a year.
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Or do what Dene did and go to America and learn how to orgainse and run comps
 
I can't see it being viable for us to pay for that. The international flights here and back would cost more than we could possibly ever pay. Our best shot at hosting an official competition would a delegate helping us over their holiday, when they just happen to be on holiday in South Africa for some reason.

I might be able to attend a competition when I am overseas. I have a school tour through the USA over June-July. I will only be in each city for a few days, So it will be a massive coincidence if there is a competition where I am staying, while I am there. I will check the exact dates now, and see if any of them correspond with dates of competitions.

EDIT: I have checked and there are no competitions while I am in the USA.
 
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StephenC said:
I can't see it being viable for us to pay for that. The international flights here and back would cost more than we could possibly ever pay. Our best shot at hosting an official competition would a delegate helping us over their holiday, when they just happen to be on holiday in South Africa for some reason.

I might be able to attend a competition when I am overseas. I have a school tour through the USA over June-July. I will only be in each city for a few days, So it will be a massive coincidence if there is a competition where I am staying, while I am there. I will check the exact dates now, and see if any of them correspond with dates of competitions.

EDIT: I have checked and there are no competitions while I am in the USA.
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someone going to America or Europe is a good long term solution maybe Austraila by in Oceania comp aren't too common Australia has like 6 or 7 and NZ had 3 in 2010 and 2011
 
The closest delegate to South Africa lives about 20,000km away. I'm not sure how possible it is to become a delegate but if at all possible, South Africa needs one, (before we can think about hosting an official comp), because I'm not sure how likely it is that a current delegate would randomly go on holiday to South Africa.
tx789 said:
New Zealand wins more in rugby than any other country and won the rwc in 2011
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Yeah, I'll give you that. I think my point was that South Africa definitely has the potential to hold competitions. World Champs? Ok that was two years ago ;) Times are changing now

EDIT - I can't organize one btw because I don't live in South Africa at the moment
 
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StephenC said:
I can't see it being viable for us to pay for that. The international flights here and back would cost more than we could possibly ever pay.
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It's somewhere in the $1000-$1500 range (USD) to get a round-trip flight from USA to South Africa. Flying from Europe or Australia may be cheaper. It's a lot of money but if you can get a company to sponsor the competition or if you can pool money together from several cubers I'm sure it's doable. Also, you could always ask around (especially among European delegates) - someone may be interested enough to pay their own way, spend some extra time in the country, and call it a vacation.

DuffyEdge said:
I'm not sure how possible it is to become a delegate but if at all possible, South Africa needs one, (before we can think about hosting an official comp)
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That is almost never how it works. To become a delegate you need to have attended enough competitions to get a really good feel for how they work, and they also need to be trusted, so they definitely have to have met cubers from outside the country. You could hold some unofficial competitions (which do not require a delegate) to get a feel for it, but when you do a real one you will probably need someone from the outside.
 
qqwref said:
That is almost never how it works. To become a delegate you need to have attended enough competitions to get a really good feel for how they work, and they also need to be trusted, so they definitely have to have met cubers from outside the country. You could hold some unofficial competitions (which do not require a delegate) to get a feel for it, but when you do a real one you will probably need someone from the outside.
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I understand, you obviously know much more about this than I do. But like I said, I don't live in South Africa anymore so there's not much I can do.. I hope somebody will be able to do something.
Well unofficial comps are fair enough. But.. if we needed an outside delegate for every single official comp then South Africa doesn't hold much hope for many future official competitions.
 
You need one for the first one, because nobody would know how you guys run a competition before that. If they notice someone who seems like delegate material while they're there, they can make a recommendation, and then after that you will have a delegate of your own.
 
Hey!
Am I glad i found you guys!
I thought I was alone here in deepest darkest Africa. I have been looking for some fellow SA cubers to chat and share with. I am fairly new to the art of cubing and would love to join you guys. I also live in Johannesburg.
 
DonnyStar said:
@ theAwesomeAlex
Cape town is a beautiful place. My home town. I could've shown you the good spots, unfortunately, I, like most other business oriented Africans, had to move to Johannesburg for better career oppotunities. If you're on safari I would have to guess that you're in the kruger national park. Very nice there. Its the only place in south africa that looks anything like what the rest of the world thinks south africa looks like. Let us know if you and your family come up to Johanessburg. Keep safe out there, those lions aren't the hand reared house cats that you guys throw pebbles at when the zookeeper isn't looking. These things here eat first and ask second. My mothers van was overturned by elephants, and my uncle was eaten by a crocodile in botswana.
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Wow, your family really doesn't understand that you should keep away from dangerous animals, do they? :fp (sorry, couldn't resist)

qqwref said:
...Also, you could always ask around (especially among European delegates) - someone may be interested enough to pay their own way, spend some extra time in the country, and call it a vacation......You could hold some unofficial competitions (which do not require a delegate) to get a feel for it, but when you do a real one you will probably need someone from the outside.
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I cannot make any promise, but I have been looking to go to Africa in the "not too far future". I wouldn't mind spending some time for this, but I don't know how far you guys already are.
Benefits: I am Dutch, so I somewhat speak the language and I live in the same timezone (strangely enough). I also have plenty of experience with competitions everywhere around the world
Negatives: I am not technically a delegate, but I think if I would talk with Ron van Bruchem about this we could come to an agreement.

But as mentioned before, you should first:
1) Create a local community. Meaning a group of people that would actually come to a competition and preferably could interest others to come as well. Of course it would be more interesting if this community was interested in more than just 3x3x3 because a comp with 10 people and 1 round of 333 is just finished in an hour and not interesting for anyone to come over.
2) Organise a couple of cube meetings and see who would be capable of organising (part of) an official event
3) Contact the WCA and/or me to talk things over when you are ready with the above 2 and would like to start making things official
 
AvGalen said:
I cannot make any promise, but I have been looking to go to Africa in the "not too far future". I wouldn't mind spending some time for this, but I don't know how far you guys already are.
Benefits: I am Dutch, so I somewhat speak the language and I live in the same timezone (strangely enough). I also have plenty of experience with competitions everywhere around the world
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This sounds pretty amazing. I would definitely go for sure. There are several cubers in South Africa, restricted by a vast 7000km radius to the nearest competition.
Also, hardly anyone cannot speak English
 
Update: 1 week later I haven't heard a single thing from South Africa. Both Anders and me are interested in helping but this should be coming from inside and it doesn't seem there is anything going on.

So guys and girls from South Africa: If you want to get a WCA competition we are willing to help. Contact us with your plans
 
Hi I'm Christo du Venage. I've been part of SCSA from the start and Donny is the one who taught me how to do the 3x3. Don and I have been talking and trying to get a date that will suit most of the cubers we know of. The 11th of January 2014 seems to be the best date. Are there any objections or comments on the proposed date?
 
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