Pretoria gets professional 7’s academy
The new All Stars 7’s rugby Academy has been established to create new opportunities at national and international level for players in this popular sport.
Pretoria is again at the forefront of an exciting new sports concept with the recent launch of the All Stars 7s Rugby Academy that will soon open its doors in the city.
The Academy (ASRA 7s), which will be the first full-time commercial sevens academy in South Africa, was recently launched at a gala in Pretoria.
This academy is the realisation of a dream of sports promoter Willem Strauss and his colleagues.
Strauss is the organiser of top sevens tournaments around the world and he will be managing director of the academy.
The All Stars 7s team, which has participated as an independent team in sevens rugby tournaments around the world since 2012, will become the official team of the academy when it opens its doors early next year. Students joining the academy will be involved full-time for 10 months.
Sevens rugby expert, Ludwich von Deventer, who has been running and coaching the independent All Stars team, will be the full-time coach at the academy, based at the Harlequins Sport Grounds in Groenkloof. Members of the academy will be housed at a private student residence in the city.
The academy will operate in close cooperation with the official SA Rugby 7s Academy, headed by Springbok 7s legends Marius Schoeman and Paul Delport in Stellenbosch.
This collaboration will seek to ensure that students from the All Stars Academy will be exposed to the national sevens rugby programme.
The biokineticist and fitness coach, Jannie Brooks, will also be involved with the conditioning of players joining the academy.
According to Strauss, 7s rugby has been one of the fastest growing sports since it gained Olympic status. He said he was looking to broaden the base of 7s rugby in South Africa and create a pathway for promising young players.
The players will participate in the international 7s tournaments all over the world playing against and interacting with several national teams.
The academy opens on 1 February next year, and school leavers and senior players are welcome to enrol. Interested players or parents can contact Willem Strauss on 082-457-0190 or willemstrauss@icloud.com
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