Local women’s rugby academy is the birthplace of young stars
Four players from Knysna’s Titans Women’s Rugby Academy (TWRA) were included in the SWD U15 7s teams who competed in the department of culture and sport’s provincial games recently, and with it has shown that youth sports development is alive and well in Knysna.
Ne-dicha Gysman, Noisphiwo Swarts, Lizel Kamfer and Shakira Benjamin were the pride of TWRA at the games, with all four players being introduced to the game by the academy’s primary school girls’ rugby programme of 2016. Swarts only started playing rugby after the other three in 2017 as part of TWRA’s high school programme at Concordia High School in Knysna.
Gysman, Kamfer and Benjamin currently form part of the Knysna Secondary School girls rugby programme under the guidance of coach Theo Fredericks, while Swarts still plays for Concordia under the guidance of coach Marlene Adams.
“We are extremely proud of the achievements of these young ladies as they are starting to pave their way into the provincial rugby scene. We want to encourage parents to let their daughters try our girls’ rugby… It’s tough, it’s hard, but it is fun and builds strong morals and discipline,” said Aschin Klein, director of rugby at the academy.
Klein added that the academy’s 2018 primary school programme already kicked off on Monday 29 October at various schools in Hornlee. “Sunridge Primary will have their training sessions Mondays and Wednesdays at the school field, while Hornlee and Fraaisig Primary girls will use the Hornlee sports field the same days,” he said. –