Vusa Academy kids victorious against junior school elite
YOUNG Lions duo Vincent Tshituka and Wandisile Simelane understandably made up most of Super Rugby’s media column inches last weekend. Both were outstanding in the Lions win against the Jaguares.
Simelane was electric in his first start in the midfield. He was as imposing as he was as a schoolboy and when playing for the South Africa U20s a year ago. He’s a keeper.
It’s not if he plays for the Springboks, but rather a case of when.
Tshituka’s challenge will be harder because of the quality of loose-forwards South Africa produces. He’s got everything, but the challenge will be more a physical one because of the attrition rate associated with loose-forward play.
Another young man in the headlines was Blitzboks’ Selvyn Davids. He was named player of the final at the Vancouver 7s, with the South Africans finally finding form and winning the tournament.
Tshituka, Simelane and Davids were just three of the individual good news stories coming out of South African rugby last weekend.
But the most heart-warming rugby story played out as a collective on the schoolboy rugby fields in Paarl, where the Langa Vusa Academy boys delighted in their first visit to Paarl Boys.
Vusa, translated to English, means “awakening” and the past weekend was true to everything that the Vusa Academy symbolises. It’s about opportunity, participation and education. Significantly, it is also about hope.
Last weekend would have provided so much hope for those U11 and U13 youngsters, who took on the most powerful traditional Western Cape junior schools’ elite at the Paarl Boys Primary Rugby Festival and emerged victorious in all but two of the 16 matches played.
The Vusa Academy won the trophy for their enterprising play and were also awarded the trophy for the most attractive rugby played.
What an achievement for these youngsters from Langa. What reward for those devoted community leaders who invest their time in the daily operation of the programme. And what a sense of pride for Brendan Fogarty, the inspiration behind Vusa.
Fogarty, through his Bishops Prep school, started the Vusa Academy. He wanted kids to thrive within their own community. He wanted them to experience the opportunities, but be comforted by the realisation that it could be done within their own community.
The Vusa Academy, home to 120 young rugby players from five primary schools in Langa, is thriving. Boys are being schooled with a textbook as well as a rugby ball. Mondays to Thursdays are about rugby and a classroom experience that involves Maths and English. If you are on the field on Monday, then Tuesday afternoon you are in the classroom and vice versa. Fogarty’s mantra is that sports participation and education dovetail.
Fridays are about social interaction, with organised activities that take the boys on outings, and Saturday is match day.
Fogarty’s ensured a full fixture list against the traditional southern suburbs junior schools and he has also strengthened associations with community clubs Primrose, Hamiltons RFC and Collegians RFC.
The Ikeys Tigers have also adopted the Vusa Academy and several of the club’s players are involved in the coaching. Some of the young Vusa lads have been offered scholarships to the traditional Western Cape southern suburbs schools.
Fogarty says that was bound to happen, but that the essence of Vusa is not in a scholarship but in an improved centre of excellence within Langa.
It is about the young kids being able to blossom within their community and it is about giving energy to the daily environment.
Fogarty has been relentless in the Vusa programme and corporate South Africa is playing ball. Shoprite, as just one example, provides products and Capitec, as another, have ensured the strength of the educational programme. Investec Asset Management is involved and the programme is supported by founding partner Calulo.
This academy, as Fogarty enthuses, is so much more than a rugby ball.
It’s about keeping the boys off the street and showing them there is an alternative… in the classroom and on the rugby field.
It’s working because the boys are arriving at Vusa as juniors and staying involved as seniors in the community. Just this week 10 of the Langa-based Busy Bee RFC U18 starting XV were products of the Vusa Academy.