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on Monday April 29 and will run till May 4 with Prince Edward School hosting 186 schools from across the country. Running under the theme: “Everyone is a Winner”, event organisers promised a much bigger and brighter festival that will bring together both girls and boys rugby-playing schools willing to participate at this year’s fiesta.
Sebastian Garikai, the events director, said they have done everything that will make the event a success and they have slotted in a host of educative programmes outside rugby.
“This year’s edition is going to be a thriller with a diversity of activities for both participants and attendees. We want to take rugby to the rural areas as well.
“Lucky participants will get international education and scholarships to learn overseas if they impress. The event will also showcase and expose rugby players to better rugby coaching aids and free doping lessons,” said Garikai.
More school girl teams are expected to make their presence felt this year since their number has risen to 13. The inclusion of these teams was a giant step and the need to develop the game at grassroots level across the gender divide. School girl teams to look forward to are Roosevelt Girls, Morgan Girls, Goromonzi, Mbare, Mt Pleasant, Lord Malvern, Hatfield Girls, Sobhukazi, Tafara High 1, and Eaglesvale Zengeza High 1 and Girls High School in Harare and George Stark.
The festival will be celebrating 15 years of rugby excellence under Cottco sponsorship. As it has been always the norm, the event will again be hosted by Prince Edward School, a venue deemed “neutral” by the organisers.
Speaking of the event, school-going kids are excited about the developments so far.
Those who managed to speak to Cool Lifestyle promised fireworks as they will use the platform to showcase various fashion trends, hairstyles as well as ending their school holiday in style.
“The feeling ain’t fair this time around, representing green blazer (St John’s College) guys nothing is short of amazing, really I see sparkle drooling on my body before the event kicks off,” vowed Stonzay McKianc’e a Form 3 student at St John’s College in Harare.
Shingi Mariwa, a Zengeza High 1 student, said Cottco is an event that has managed to attract schools even from the ghetto putting paid to previous assumptions that it was for “A” schools only.
Zimbabwe Rugby Union general manager Sifiso Made hailed Prince Edward School for hosting the festival again and pledged to continue with the support.
“We have always supported this event and we have no plans to leave them alone. Cottco is a benchmark for all schools taking rugby sporting seriously and the coaching aids. They should be the vehicle driving the sport from the grassroots,” said Made.
Regional teams taking part this year include Windhoek Technical from Namibia and St Martin’s from South Africa.
Garikai also said a lot of changes have been made this year, which will see some of the games being played at night to match with international rugby standards.
“This year we will have some of the games played at night, but we have very tight security so parents should know that their children are in safe hands. We have been working flat out to make sure that we expose our aspiring rugby players to conditions they are likely to encounter later in their lives if they take the sporting seriously,” he added.
For all rugby fanatics, Prince Edward School is a place to be from Monday 29 to Saturday May 4 as you are going to join Cool Lifestyle and beloved teens from different schools doing what they know best!
leeroy