Vryheid Rugby Club – Rugby boys flex their heart muscles

VRYHEID Rugby Club players exercised their biggest muscles at a team building camp over the weekend – their hearts.

The club traditionally starts off their season with a team building camp where club members, old and new, get together and familiarise themselves with each other before the official start of the season, building relationships and synergy within the structure of the team.

The camp, which doubled as a community service project, was hosted by Stefan Knoetze, a farmer in the Scheepersnek area, who has been hard hit by the drought.

Thousands of fish have died as a result of a dam on his farm having dried up due to the drought and thousands more were facing a similar fate, until the men in maroon stepped in to assist.

First team Head Coach, Rich Verster, having witnessed the devastation on his neighbour’s farm, decided to seize the opportunity to assist by bringing in the ‘big guns,’ as it were, in the form of the muscle of Vryheid Rugby Club players, transforming the team building exercise into a labour of love.

“Stefan is two farms away from me,” said Verster. “He built a small getaway house near the dam for people to go and fish, to break away for the weekend. When I got there and saw all the dead fish and thousands more fish in what was left of the dam, I asked him if he had another dam that they could be relocated to… That’s when I offered to move them using the rugby boys.”

25 players attended the camp and were divided into four teams. The objective for the afternoon’s exercise was to relocate as many fish as possible. Running 400m through soft mud, leopard crawling through muddy obstacles, catching fish with nets and by hand, filling a bag and running 400m to get the fish back into water, players pushed themselves to the limit to achieve their goal. After jumping in the water, they had to swim 100m through the dam, releasing and reviving struggling fish.

“We relocated by hand and net for almost three hours, moving 1067 fish,” said Verster. “Unfortunately there are still over 1000 fish left in the dam.”

Participating club members got in touch with nature for the remainder of the camp, enjoying a pig on the spit for dinner and sleeping under the stars.

Verster continued, “I’m really very happy and satisfied with the growth within the club. Seeing all the new faces as well as the dedication from the older players makes me very proud and excited for the future of the club.”

Trials against Hluhluwe will take place this Saturday at Vryheid Rugby Club, so bring the family and show your support.