Kids on the programme said “my mom said you cannot do that and I proved them wrong”. So it’s on that level that I would like to measure success.

father and parent. JAG trains, mentors and monitors coaches.

says: ‘I probably work a lot harder now than I ever did as a runner. Then I was responsible for me, myself and I. Now we have 10 000 kids on the programme.’

Metres (for primary schools), JAGRunners and JAGRugby – is run in 10 of the 26 high-risk communities initially identified by the Western Cape Education Department. Coaches are drawn from each of those communities and work under a Master Coach. The coaches get a coaching kit – ‘JAG in a Bag’ – to guide them. ‘When you give clear direction and clear tools then there’s automatic motivation,’ she says.

‘Sport has been my biggest teacher,’ says Meyer who hold a B.Com and B.Com (Hons) as well as a Higher Education Diploma. ‘When I started I was this tiny, skinny little girl from Albertinia. Sport

16 Management Today | August 2011 The programme – comprising Mighty On her role as CEO of JAG, Meyer

taught me that no mountain is too high – you can actually achieve anything you want to if you’re prepared to work hard. There’s no elevator to success.’

you want to be successful is to stay with your passions because it will just come a lot easier. It’s a process. You have to have a plan. It’s going to take long. It’s about discipline. With that reference it doesn’t matter what I want to do. There’s nothing that I believe is impossible.

‘It’s not luck that gave me the opportunity to go to the Olympic Games. It was commitment. It was hard work. It was a belief in myself. It was a belief in the coach. It was some pretty good genes but I believe there were probably thousands of girls who were more talented than me but they were not there when I competed.’

four years. Why work for JAG? ‘Sport gave me so much. Sport gave me everything

Meyer has been CEO of JAG for the past ‘One of the most important things if