The South African Rugby Legends Association (SARLA) provides ongoing support for rugby development throughout South Africa with its VUKA programme – a ground-breaking initiative aimed at developing South African rugby at grassroots level; transforming the sport by empowering young people from previously disadvantaged areas.
In keeping with SARLA’s mission to make rugby more accessible to everyone, SA Rugby Legend Dale Santon has turned rugby training mobile, by creating a customised scrumming trailer that will now be used at VUKA training clinics throughout the Cape, and the rest of the country in the near future. And it could not have arrived at a better time, with SARLA’s VUKA Rugby season kicking off in March.
Dale came up with the idea for the trailer when he noticed that many schools – particularly in rural areas – had a glaring lack of training equipment available to help young rugby players train properly. Following this realisation, the scrumming trailer was born. And it was brought to life with the endorsement of SARLA President, Gavin Varejes, and the support of SARLA, who felt that the ingenious innovation would be a perfect fit for VUKA.
With the trailer added to VUKA coaches’ arsenal, young players in the programme will now have the added benefit of state-of-the-art training equipment to help them during practice and on match days. The back of the trailer is designed to transform into a scrumming machine for forwards. Additionally, it provides a unique opportunity for SARLA representatives to travel to various schools and demonstrate proper scrumming technique.
Packed with tackle bags, scrumming pads and a medical kit for match days, the SARLA Scrumming Trailer is a prototype that’s a sign of things to come. More trailers are likely to be hitting the road soon, to help young rugby talent hone their skills and condition their bodies to the best of their ability.
SARLA CEO, Stefan Terblanche, said “We’re excited to see the impact this trailer is going to have on the VUKA players this season. Dale’s idea has created a brilliant tool that will motivate coaches and get players into peak physical condition. So many of these young players don’t have access to gyms and professional equipment to boost their training and conditioning efforts. But now, we can bring the equipment to them.”
SARLA looks forward to seeing VUKA graduates flourish under the guidance of the dedicated VUKA training team, with support from world-class training equipment on the move – thanks to the SARLA Scrumming Trailer.
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