09 Apr 2019

Botswana Rugby Union development manager, Zilwele Khumalo says to produce good rugby players, they must catch them young.

Khumalo said this during a two-day coaching skills session dubbed: Get into rugby which was recently held in Francistown for primary schools.

“We found it necessary to coach the children at the grassroots level so that they can develop skills at a young age,” he said.

He explained that the union realised that most players started rugby when they were old, thus making it difficult for them to acquire skills.

He added that getting started at a tender age gave one enough time to know the rules of the game and how to play it.

Khumalo said they once did the coaching skills camp in Francistown in 2017, but that the programme was discontinued due to financial constraints.

He said that now that they had started again, the focus would be on Francistown because they did not have time in the past to make it happen.

Khumalo said the union was operating fully in Gaborone, Maun and Selebi Phikwe, adding that the union also had regional and national training festivals for pupils in Francistown who would compete with pupils from Selebi-Phikwe.

Training, he said, was meant to empower pupils so that at the national competitions they could compete with other pupils from other regions.

“During the national competitions the pupils will be categorised according to their age groups so as to enable them to get to know other players from other regions, and they will not be placed based on the region they are from,” he said.

Khumalo added that the next move was Maun where the union would partake in an out of school camp for a week with the under 17 girls and under 19 boys to sharpen their skills.

He said the camp was meant to prepare them for the upcoming tournament in Zimbabwe. ENDS