UXI Sport is pleased to announce its partnership with the IMM Graduate School. The IMM Graduate School is one of the most legendary and reputable private Higher Education providers of choice in the field of marketing, supply chain and business in South Africa. The IMM Graduate School’s offering includes certificates, diplomas, degrees and postgraduate qualifications, which are all registered with the South African Qualifications Framework (SAQA) and quality assured by the South African Council on Higher Education (CHE).
An integral part of UXI Sport’s unique High Performance Rugby Programme is its Academic Programmes, that form part of the holistic development of Student Rugby Athletes. Through the Academic Programmes, provided by our academic partners, we develop young men and women, with key attributes and qualities that offer work-readiness.
UXI Sport’s institutes are passionate about creating opportunities, job placement and most importantly an embedded work-ethic, that is driven by a dedicated professional team, that INSPIRES GREATNESS!
“Sport High Performance development combined with an exceptional, relevant marketing qualification, are powerful in itself to secure opportunities in various sectors in the South African and global economy – but most importantly the Sports Athlete is a BRAND in him/herself that needs to understand how to build this brand internationally”
AMERICAN RUGBY ACADEMY MEETS THE WESTERN PROVINCE RUGBY ACADEMY IN SOUTH AFRICA
Recently UXI Sport welcomed its first (of many to come) USA rugby national exchange students. Tucker Trickey (scrumhalf) and Jake Stone (flank) offi cially joined the Western Province Rugby Academy family – all the way from San Diego, United States of America.
Hailing from the Californian city, Tucker and Jake are exceptionally talented players from the San Diego Legion Academy. The San Diego Legion is an American professional rugby union that contributes to the development of players of the American national team, which was founded in 2017, and competes in Major League Rugby. The San Diego Legion professional squad is home to many South African players, such as Cecil Afrika, Dean Muir, Bjorn Basson, Tiaan Loots, Carlo de Nysschen and Joe Pietersen (of whom Captained the squad in 2019).
Rugby Academies in America and in South Africa, play a key role as training centres for the development of players and coaches for the professional rugby sport industry. Taking hands with a rugby country such as South Africa, a 3 times world cup winner, assists with the growth and development of this sport in the United States.
Such as with SA Rugby, USA Rugby also engages in National Development Programs which make use of a High-Performance Pathway initiative, one of them being the San Diego Legion Academy – an American rugby academy where Tucker (22) and Jake (20) hail from. The San Diego Legion Academy and the Western Province Rugby Academy came together to provide once in a lifetime OPPORTUNITIES for these two talented players – the ultimate South African Rugby Experience!
Based in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, Tucker and Jake’s month-long high performance rugby experience has been an incredible experience for both. Not only did they participate in the UXI High- Performance Rugby programme, but also represented the Hamilton’s u/20 team in the Super A Club League of the Western Province Rugby Football Union.
The highlight of this stay included a match against the WP Stormers U20 squad, one that tested the Academy players development progress against some of the best SA Rugby U/20 players in South Africa.
The UXI Rugby Institutes offers international and domestic players the unique experience to travel South African, see the beautiful and cultured country, in all its diversity! From Table Mountain and the Winelands in the Cape to the Kruger National Park and Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga. The players study Rugby under super minds of Coaches, such as Ricardo Loubscher at the Cheetahs Institute of Excellence in Free State, to Brendell Brandt at the Griquas Rugby Institute in Kimberley. The rugby opportunities and travel experience are endless!
UXI Sport is able to arrange various international tour opportunities to South Africa, for both men and women rugby players, who want to experience playing rugby at a high level.
An experience for both the South Africans and the American players, as they learnt so much from one another both on and off the field. Friends were made for LIFE and bridges built across so many borders!
The UXI Rugby Institutes will offer the American GED certificate from 2022. An accredited private South African high school education provider, ESCA, has partnered with UXI on this initiative and this will allow for players to transition to American clubs or colleges for play opportunity exchange programs. The American GED allows access into various colleges in America.
UXI Rugby institutes SA, are passionate about exit strategies, and closing the gap in global rugby for all its players in its high-performance programs. The American Dream is a dream for many young talented South African rugby players! UXI Rugby Institutes will also be reaching out to other high level Academies in the US that has a shared vision to identify and develop players and coaches, such as the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy!
A huge word of thanks goes to the San Diego Legion Academy staff, Anton Moolman (UXI International Marketing Director), and the WPRA team for making this exchange programme a reality for Tucker and Jake. We look forward to welcoming another group of USA players to their journey to Stellenbosch, South Africa soon.
What does Elon Musk and a world-class South African Rugby development Programme have in common?
“I think it is possible for an ordinary person to choose to be extraordinary.” ~ Elon Musk
There may be times in life when difficulties and obstacles creep up on us and try to derail our dreams and attempt to dim our lights. Some of these things are, unfortunately, out of our control.
However, the one thing we are ALWAYS in control of are our ATTITUDES and MINDSETS. It is an active choice, every day, to either be an ordinary or an extraordinary human being. This is entirely our choice; and we always have the power to elevate ourselves and our minds, even in the most difficult of times.
Elon Musk reminds us that he is just an ordinary person, who has simply chosen to be extraordinary and lives his life everyday with this mindset and attitude. Elon, born in South Africa, might be familiar with rugby, although he never practiced it, or competed in a world championship event , he is a keen sports enthusiast, and an ever-evolving man!
Anyone can do the same – for some of us adapting ourselves and our mindsets come naturally, and for others it is a process. But truth be told, if we don’t adapt with an attitude of continuous improvement in Sport or in Life, we shall not move forward to that ultimate destination we are capable of reaching. We shall not be able to view crises or troubles in life as opportunities.
How does this adaptive, growth mindset affect the Rugby Institute programs, our players and coaches, at a time of unprecedented uncertainty?
It is no secret that Covid-19 is still very much a part of our daily lives. As we move back into Level 4 Lockdown for two weeks affecting Amateur rugby training, Head coaches have pushed the term 2 holidays forward in order to align with these sudden restrictions. While this may be disheartening for our players, there is no need for them to be despondent, as our sports scientist staff, management and coaches are well-prepared for any and all obstacles that come their way.
Adaptability is a key attribute, taught in the Mental program of A- Game, and a critical component of this associative learning, deeply embedded in the Rugby programme of UXI Sport. It is referred to as Adaptabilty Intelligence (AQ). It is simply astonishing how sport can teach players such a habit-forming trait, whether through skills and conditioning training, on-field game strategy, through injury rehabilitation, or skills set learning!
UXI Sport is more passionate than ever before to inspire GREATNESS and HOPE to our athlete players. We continue to drive this through creative home training programmes, individual Teams coaching sessions and fun mental and physical challenges. These are recorded daily through a technology driven Althlete Performance Management (APM) system and TEAM APPLICATIONS, that monitor our players 24/7, so we can measure performance and improvement continuously.
The UXI Rugby Programmes, as with the constant changes of our LIFE and working-worlds, are about continuous re-evention and adaptability. Two critical behavioral dispositions, referred to as FUTURE FIT skills. These are the skills required today to become WORLD CHAMPIONS for LIFE!
The first time Bolla set foot on the WPRA UXI Rugby Institute, I met a man whose smile went from his face to my heart.
A legend capped as Springbok in the history of South African Rugby ,over 80 times, and one who represented the proud WP jersey in iconic years, when crowds streamed to Newlands and camped outside the stadium for hours to see their heroes in action. Those were the days when dreams were real, and the sons from the people of the Cape, played bare foot in the dirt roads and fields of the Cape communities, They had one dream only, and that was to wear the blue and white striped jersey one day.
The days where there were no lucrative contracts and insurances. They played for the PRIDE of the jersey and loyalty to the Disa!
That spirit, that heart, are all still very evident and present in the man known as “The Rock”, who became a precious member of the WPRA coaching team in Stellenbosch at the beginning of 2021. One that few 17/18 year old players know, and some coaches in elite circles labelled, as too “old school” for the modern game! But UXI Sport believe that our youth, the “modern players of the game”- our new “ generation Z” needs these qualities, that he represents, instilled BACK into the value systems of players that enters the UXI Rugby instituterugby development program and system. Values and attributes that have been lost over the past decades but have become Future Fit skills to survive in a Y2K era.
That quality that “Inspires greatness”, that does not matter where you come from, but where you are going. And this is exactly what underpins the world-class UXI Rugby Program. We witnessed Bolla transform diverse players with diverse backgrounds and experience levels in only 5 months, to performance levels that humbled us! Not only on the field but for LIFE!
Bolla “speaks” the language of the people of our Western Cape in a way few coaches can, transferring skill, passion and pride, breaking through generation barriers. Bolla ignites HOPE, Bolla inspires greatness, years after he hung up his boots.
How proud we are of this Legend, part of the UXI Sport Dream team, leaving a mark in the lives of many aspirant and development players every day, and now returning to assist the professional coaching teams at WP.
This goes to prove how South African rugby needs their legends for more reasons than one!
UXI Sport in support of the Legends of Rugby, whose voices should never be silenced, for they represent too many lessons in the game of rugby and LIFE to bury!
A legend capped as Springbok in the history of South African Rugby ,over 80 times, and one who represented the proud WP jersey in iconic years, when crowds streamed to Newlands and camped outside the stadium for hours to see their heroes in action. Those were the days when dreams were real, and the sons from the people of the Cape, played bare foot in the dirt roads and fields of the Cape communities, They had one dream only, and that was to wear the blue and white striped jersey one day.
