There is a tremendous amount of “gees” in the WP Club Rugby circles as we engage on the various methods of return to training and we pick up speed on our coaching courses including our Women’s Rugby High-performance coaching development program.
This week saw us meet with our various leagues again to discuss the return to training options as per the COVID 19 regulations. This is not an easy process, but compliance and the health and safety of our members will always be our top priority. Although our meetings have included a lot of discussion on the way forward it’s been great to see our colleagues face to face and see the passion our members have for WP Club Rugby.
SA Rugby and government regulations require that each club must have a compliance officer in place and as such we have embarked on our COVID-19 awareness and education process. One of the first components of this process is the completion of the free COVID-19 awareness certificate from World Rugby. We understand that documentation is a major factor for return to training and as such we are constructing various online solutions which will help the clubs to get their players back on the park in a safe manner.
With these elements in place, we should see our players training on the field in an isolated manner with masks and sanitisation protocols in place.
Now that the SA Rugby u21 format has changed to u20 we move our attention to preparation and planning for 2021 for our juniors that have come through the ranks, As of next week coach Jerome Paarwater will begin benchmark testing at the High-Performance centre. Players will receive programmes relating to strength and conditioning applicable to home-based preparation. We are very happy to see that several of these players come from our club rugby ranks and have already gained some experience playing in the U21 championships.
This week sees us start our World Rugby Fifteens Level 1 coaching course at DHL Newlands with our next course on 20 November. The deadline for the course is 13 November. We will host the S&C (Strength and Conditioning course on 13 November. All application should be sent to Nazeem Adams on nazeem@wprugby.co.za
We are working hard on the roll-out of our WP Women’s Rugby High-Performance Coaches Development Program. The program will run for a three-year cycle aiming to capacitate female talent in rugby coaching from beginner school and club rugby coaches to elite school, club, junior and senior provincial coaches.
Schools and universities with women rugby teams and senior women’s rugby clubs are invited to nominate potential persons to participate in the program by 16 November 2020. Anyone wishing to attend the “Women only” course MUST complete the application form on this link and send it to Nazeem Adams on nazeem@wprugby.co.za before the due date.
This week also saw the announcement of the Carling Black Label Currie Cup sponsorship and the fixtures for the tournament which starts on 27 November and runs to 23 January 2020. Our DHL WP Rugby first fixture is on 28 November at DHL Newlands when we face the Vodacom Bulls. Fans will find it interesting that there is, in fact, a groundbreaking fixture in that we will be playing at DHL Newlands on Christmas day and again on 2 January 2020, on the day commonly referred to as “tweede nuwe jaar”.