Budding young rugby talents at Port Rex Technical High School received a boost on Tuesday afternoon when the Nashua Rugby Skills Project Powered by ShadowBall roadshow stopped by the school.
Along with pupils from Buchule Technical School in Mdantsane, players were put through their paces in various skill tests and challenges, led by former Springbok centre Gcobani Bobo – one of four former Springbok ambassadors on board with the project.
“We are visiting 40 schools around the country... that Nashua chose to partner with and each school gets to invite an underprivileged school to join so that we can assist in the transformation and development of rugby,” ShadowBall founder, Gary Crookes said.
“We test the player’s skills with six different challenges that help with various skill sets and after the test you get a good baseline of the player’s skills.
“We then leave the school with shadow ball pass booster programme and 22 ShadowBalls, so that they can train on their own and after six weeks we will come back and see if they have improved as the idea is that each school is able to upskill themselves in the long run.”
The ShadowBall can be thrown against a wall and caught by the player to improve accuracy.
It gives rugby players the chance to practise passing and catching on their own, in the same way golfers do on the driving range.
During Tuesday's coaching session, Bobo, along with a few other coaches sat with the kids and explained how to grip and pass the ball and how to use the equipment, before the players tested themselves.
“There is one thing in South Africa that we can always improve on, it’s that we can make ourselves better decision-makers, in us being comfortable under pressure to make the right pass and being accurate about it, which is what ShadowBall gives you,” said Bobo.
“So it's all about repetition, doing the basics until you get it right and then perfecting it, and with ShadowBall giving you the chance to master your skill all that you have to do is put in the time.
“We are here as a skill aid, we are here to help the people and respect to Nashua Skills for giving us the chance to go around the country and give this programme to the whole nation because it's all about nation- building and giving the young kids confidence so they can express themselves.”
The roadshow, which started in Johannesburg earlier this year will, now move on to other schools around the country. However the team will return to check on the progress of the players and coaches as each school is visited twice to ensure thorough training and improvement of skills.
Bobo hailed the programme for helping to uplift grassroots rugby around the country. He said making the programme as accessible as possible to many kids, who will benefit by inproving their skills at the game, was a major goal for the roadshow.
“I’ve been on board from the start, this is not something I was brought on board for because they needed a face, it has been my passion to push this ball and programme,” said Bobo.
“The greatest thing about this country is that anything is possible, I was born in Zwelitsha, played for Doves Club and went on to play for Newcastle in the UK.”