adminJeffrey Murimbechi Sports Correspondent
Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) vice-president Coleen de Jong announced that the union is set to launch a massive outreach programme aimed at spreading the sport to high density areas as part of their strong drive to develop the sport from grassroots level. “In our strategic plan, part of our development plan there will be community playing fields in the high density areas where in that particular area there will be four of five schools who will use that community ground.
“It’s a way of making sure that the kids have a place and an opportunity to play and it is about combining all those resources instead of trying to spread them over five schools,” said de Jong.
The move to use community grounds is an expansion of the high yielding investment in the Mbare Academy based at the Gary Stark School in Harare.
It’s a high density success story that the union can boast of along with the Bakers Inn Legacy programme. But, there is still a lot to do for the union if it is to increase the pool of players that will end up as the future Sables and Cheetahs and walk the same path as Manase Siita and Stephen Hunduza.
“What we have to do to help our competitiveness is to get more layers, if I can give you a Club structures all the way from age group level can only exist and be sustained if the sport is introduced to the masses at an early age.
ZRU will adopt concepts from Zimbabwe Cricket’s developmental model which used cricket development centres in high density areas across country and produced the sensational players such Tendai Chatara.
One of Middleton’s mandates is to establish a unified structure of rugby in the country which ensures that the end result, national team players, is of the highest quality.
He believes that Zimbabwe has the potential.
“I have been involved since 2004 mostly with the sevens but I also kept in touch with the school set-up and the Sables and I think there is potential here.
“I know a lot of people say that too, there has always been potential and the key is to harness and develop it and allow it to produce results for the country.
“It’s one of my key roles,” he said.
Online Reporter