SPORT NEWS - The year 2023 will be remembered on the sporting front as the year that Siya Kolisi and his team of heroes conquered the rugby world and hoisted the William Webb Ellis trophy for the fourth time. If we roll back the clock to the year 1993, a young South African, Rob Macdonald developed a game Tag Rugby.
The game’s goal was to introduce rugby to young boys and girls in a safe and fun manner.
The beauty of the game is that it is a non-contact form of rugby that can be played on any surface, by boys and girls in the same teams and teaches skills that are beneficial to almost all other sports. Little did Rob know but his vision would lead to hundreds of thousands on young learners being introduced to the game of rugby and sport in general over the next 31 years.
Great news for the Bitou population is that the Tag Rugby Association have found a fantastic partner in Nutty Bars (a local health food producer from the Garden Route) and they will be rolling out the Tag Rugby Adopt a School Programme in schools in the Bitou region.
The seed was planted when the Khayamandi Foundation, just after the Covid pandemic, started a Tag Rugby programme with their orphanages in the area.
The programme has taken root and this pilot programme is set to change the sporting landscape in under resourced areas. “ A huge thanks to Kurt Malzer and the Khayamandi Foundation for providing us with initial backing to get this programme up and running, we are really looking forward to running an extremely successful pilot programme. Having a seasoned local Tag Rugby coach in Tera Ngqezu driving the programme in the Bitou region is fantastic,” said an excited Stuart McConnell, Director of the Tag Rugby Association.
The programme will kick off in earnest in the second term in the area. Crucial to the success of any programme are partnerships with key stakeholders and the Tag Rugby Association are going to be working with the Safe Hub to deliver an after schools sports programme at their centre. The association has been hard at work and last week delivered a Tag Rugby coaches training course at the beautiful Safe Hub facility with 30 “playmakers” upskilled and put through their paces playing Tag Rugby.
This is a fantastic initiative and those wishing to support this programme must contact Tag Rugby Association Director, Stuart McConnell stuart@taggroup.co.za . Could the next Siya Kolisi, Breyton Paulse or Eben Etzebeth be found in our community?
“Tag Rugby Association programmes primary goal is to get the youth physically active, away from the ills of society and involved in a life-long love of sport. There is so much sporting potential in South Africa that just needs an opportunity to participate. We are providing this opportunity in the Bitou region now, and with the wonderful partnerships we have with the Khayamandi Foundation, Safe Hub and Nutty Bars we certainly will unearth loads of talent. The final result winning the World Cup in 2027, 2031 and beyond will take care of itself,” said McConnell.
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