I became totally interested in the "Iron Game" in 1949 at the age of 7:  one Saturday edition of "The Cape Times" newsaper had a half-page photo of the 1949 Mr Universe competition in London.  In early 1957 at the age of 14 my folks paid for my training at a gym up the road in Parow.  It was owned and managed by Paul Smit who had won the "Mr South Africa" bodybuilding title a couple of times.  In 1956 he competed in London in the "Mr Universe" competition, placing third.  This was the premier bodybuilding competition of the time.

I trained at the gym for about 5-6 months and then stopped, for reasons I can no longer recall.  A few months later, after my 15th birthday, I was given a set of weights by the neighbours across the road:  their son had committed suicide a few months previously and I inherited his weights.

Over the next 12 years I dabbled in weight training, mainly bodybuilding and Olympic Weightlifting.  I had started buying some of the "muscle magazines" that were published at the time.  As I was "devouring" the contents of these along with that of a couple of books, I picked up a vast amount of theoretical knowledge about "The Iron Game".

Then in 1969 I decided to join a Weightlifting Club.  The club, established in 1948, was called the "Physical Health Training Centre" (PHTC).  Should you wish to know more about "The Iron Game", click on the "Learn More" link below, otherwise click on the "PHTC" button.