Big shove for Khosa in 2024
After a long season, Khosa Rugby Club honoured and rewarded their players during a recent awards ceremony.
Big hits, bone-crunching tackles, grit, quick side steps, and determination were evident among the talented young players who helped Khosa Rugby Club reach new heights this year.
The club recently held an awards ceremony where coaches and over 200 players were in attendance to be rewarded for their outstanding efforts in what has been described as a successful season by club chairperson Dan van der Merwe.
The club mainly competes in the Golden Lions Rugby League for both seven teams and 15-player a-side teams which saw the club invite many prospective players to join and help fly the Krugersdorp flag high.
According to Dan, the club is affiliated with the Gauteng Lions Rugby Union and they boost four Lions union head coaches who cover a range of coaching techniques from basic to high performance.
“Additionally, coaches are also Boksmart accredited at level one and level two is also available for each age group. The coaching programme covers all levels of the game, to develop each player’s skills and prepare them for league matches that take place from July to September each year. The club emphasises skills coaching, which is maintained throughout the rugby season from March to October. The club has an impressive track record, with many of its players having been drafted into regional and provincial teams.”
This year, the teams all performed to the best levels with four teams picking up accolades in their respective age groups at the Lions sevens tournament with the following teams taking top prizes:
• U7s – silver
• U9s – gold
• U11s – silver
• U13s – gold
Dan added the club has over 230 registered players, some of the categories at the awards ceremony included Forward of the Year, Backline Player of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year and Player of the Year.
Some of the big winners in other categories were as follows:
• Team of the Year – U13s
• Club Person of the Year – Christene Jooste
• Coach of the Year – Dan van der Merwe
• Most tries scored – Anele Njapha (28 tries)
• Player of the Year – Liam Olivier
According to Khosa’s head of youth Andrew van Wijk, other big milestones achieved by the club also include the team being invited to interprovincial tournaments.
”Our U13s were invited to the Lion interprovincial tournament where we played against the Lions, Cheetahs, Bulls and Pumas. As a club, it was a great honour to be included in a tournament of this magnitude and we had two U13 and two U14 boys that have been selected for the Lions interprovincial tournament against the other unions. The club looks on the achieve even bigger goals next season as they look on to encouraging more boys to join the club.”
