Local educator wants to grow women’s rugby

Local rugby coach and educator attached to Westenburg Secondary School, Kenny Verveen, wants to see members of their girls’ rugby team grow and produce players who will compete at international rugby tournaments.
The school’s first female team was established three years ago with the aim of growing the sporting code and also popularising it amongst learners.
Verveen believes that popularising the sport among learners and the community can assist in countering the social ills prevalent in Westenburg and surrounds. “Sport has the potential to change lives and we want to use rugby to curb socials ills such as teenage pregnancy as well as alcohol and drug abuse. We want to contribute to the South African female rugby team. We want to see players from this area making it big in national rugby circles,” Verveen said.
The school, in partnership with the South African’s Rugby Limpopo Women’s Youth Training Centre, conducted a rugby coaching clinic aimed at empowering potential female ruby players with the necessary skills at Westenburg Secondary School last Thursday.
Learners and players from neighbouring communities were taken through their paces and assisted in refining their tackling, passing, rucking, mauling, scrum, line-out and kicking skills. “We also focused on footwork and agility drills. Players were taught how to develop skills to side step, swerve, spin and offload the ball with the aim of avoiding tackles and keeping the ball moving. These are very important aspects of the game. We wanted to practice the footwork skills repeatedly so that the movements become automatic and emerge naturally in a game situation,” Verveen said.

Story and photos: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com