This is the standard curriculum now coached to all school boy rugby players in South Africa. We never had this when I was at school and what a difference this will make. On top of this they have body strength and conditioning coaches making sure the students are well prepared. This is professional rugby at school boy level.
I was watching a school boy game of rugby last weekend when the commentators were discussing 3 of the payers from the one team being exchange students from England. Apparently a new initiative has been done with regard to developing young school boy rugby players with certain schools sending pupils between SA and England.
Many of the top schools have had an exchange policy with certain schools around the world and this is slightly different. The coaches visit the schools and select the players they believe show promise and that they can help their rugby careers develop and grow. The pupils that are selected are in their second last year of school so the final year which is the most important for studies they are at home.
The schools cover the airfares, accommodation, food and the pupils needs for 6 months whilst they are guests at their school. We know the SA school rugby system is on another level so the coaching these pupils receive is aimed at turning these players into future professional rugby players. There is also a benefit for SA players playing in England as they would experience something very different and also pass on any knowledge they had learned previously.
Growing the sport and standard of the sport by having a larger playing pool of players that have been through a junior type academy is going to benefit the sport for both countries. One can only imagine if you had a 100 schools in each country doing this you would already be talking about 300 players benefitting from this system annually in each country.
The SA school rugby system is on basically a professional set up with a team of highly trained coaches at each school. Most of these coaches are ex professional players and know what it takes to step up to becoming a professional athlete. The school I was watching with the English players was being coached by 2 ex South African former international players. What was interesting to note was the players they had selected were players that were playing their positions when they played. This is knowledge and experience you cannot buy and I am sure at least one of the three will at one point in the future become an international player.
When I was playing 1st division club rugby in natal back in the day we used to get players coming over in the off season from the UK so they could develop their game. Players like Rob Wainwright, Derek Patterson, Craig Chalmers, Doddy Weir and Gregor Townsend all being Scotland Internationals played in my team. This benefits not only themselves, but also players like myself as we learn from each other. Thinking about it now my club side had at one point 12 international players in the team if you include the SA internationals playing. This does still happen but is not like it was due to the seasons being so long and the off season window is now so small.
There are certain social media sites that offer semi professional players the opportunity to move around and experience a new culture and lifestyle. These are clubs offering future players a guaranteed job and accommodation whilst you are playing for their club. if you are going to play the sport professionally you have to find away to make a living and this may not necessarily be in your home country. The schools offering exchanges are opening up a whole new world for these students and this definitely puts them in the spot light with agents looking to sign up new players.