Ricco gets his big boots
Ricco Vanbeek finally has a pair of rugby boots to fit his size-20 feet.
The brain cancer survivor returned to the rugby field for the first time this year on Thursday night wearing his new Adidas boots.
It was the end of a challenging hunt for the teenager from Pahiatua, in the Tararua District, who told the Standard in January he was considering giving up rugby for good after he out-grew his previous boots.
The 18-year-old’s long and wide feet meant that no retailers stocked what he needed – 4e-width size-20 boots.
His large feet were the result of growth hormones given to him after he was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma, a type of brain cancer that affected his hormone production, as a 13-year-old. At one stage he was growing a shoe size every four months. He is now clear of cancer, but was unsure if his feet would keep growing.
Since he shared his story with the Standard, there has been an outpouring of support.
He received a couple of offers from individuals to pay the $5000-$10,000 needed for the specialty boots, had a television appearance and a long list of supportive messages. ‘‘A couple of people offered to pay the money, someone started up a Givealittle page and some people contacted me from America and said they shared it around,’’ he said.
The hunt ended earlier this week when two pairs of pearl white Adidas boots landed on his doorstep. ‘‘A person from the Adidas team saw that I was struggling and then a couple of days later I got some boots,’’ he said. He has already tested the boots out in a College Old Boys colts preseason training session and said they were ‘‘most definitely’’ a better fit than the boots he had before. Now, instead of finding rugby boots, he can focus on scrummaging technique, chasing his rugby dreams and getting back on the field with his mates.
His size-19 boots, donated to him by 18-test former Wallabies lock Will Skelton through Asics, are now resigned to the shelf.
Vanbeek said he would hang on to them until he finds someone going through the same situation as him.