MANU CREATES OPPORTUNITY FOR RUGBY KIDS
FORMER Western Force forward Salesi Manu may have retired from professional rugby but that won’t stop him trying to make a difference.
The decorated 29-year-old prop moved to the Gold Coast last year after calling time on a seven-year career, but is busy preparing to pass on some of the many lessons he has learned to the next generation.
“When we moved home to the Gold Coast I went to find a rugby club for my little boy, Titus,” Manu said.
“We couldn’t find anything. We had no idea that our boy wouldn’t be able to play inter-school rugby unless he was enrolled at a private school, so we started looking for a rugby program outside of school.
“We’d spent four years in Italy and Japan, where the junior rugby programs on a weekend were flooded with hundreds of children, and we couldn’t believe there were no options here in Australia.
“We found AFL Auskick, Billies Buddies, Grasshopper Soccer, basically every sport except rugby was available.”
Manu and his wife, Brooklyn, decided if there were no opportunities available they would have to create one themselves.
The couple reached out to
RugbyTots, a rugby program developed by two fathers in the UK, and brought the business to the Coast to try to solve some of Australian Rugby’s biggest issues from the ground up.
The program caters for children aged between one and seven years who are too young to join junior rugby clubs, with a heavy dose of parental involvement.
“It’s a young age but it’s a fundamental age to find their love for the game,” Manu said.
“What we introduce is all sorts of skills – passing, catching, incorporating movements from jumping, skipping, crawling, and games as well.
“Parents are involved so they get to spend fun time with their kids.
“It’s family time, everyone is involved and having a laugh.”
The program, open to new players and launched with 52 kids at Coomera Crushers rugby club last week, will continue throughout the Christmas holidays.