13 Aug 2014

The Re Ba Bona Ha rugby skills festival, which was held in Selebi Phikwe over the weekend has been hailed as a success.

This was said by the centre coordinator, Bucks Keopetswe in an interview during the Re Ba Bona Ha extravaganza. Different teams from across the country converged at the centre, which was launched in 2011 to develop rugby from grass roots level.

He divulged that the event was meant to assess the progress in terms of skills the kids get during practice sessions. He also said the games were used as a way of scouting players that would tour Zimbabwe for the Lovicorbi tournament played by under-13s in November. 

“We first attended the tournament in 2011 and last year we won the title so we are going back there to defend it this year,” he said. Keopetswe said as a coordinator he was happy with the participation from kids, saying they were showing interest as they continued to come to practicing sessions in big numbers.

He however pointed out that there were some few challenges that they continued to experience such as lack of proper training grounds which had lawn saying it was big problem since they could not teach the young players some techniques.

The coordinator went on to say that they were also experiencing shortage of equipment because on a good day, they could host up to 60 athletes, pointing out that they also had a problem of attracting girls to join the sport.

Furthermore, he called on Selebi Phikwe authorities to give them support so that they could be able to achieve their mandate, adding that parents should also come to watch their kids play as that would boost the morale of young players. ENDS