Archive for category: News

“Inspiring and Igniting Greatness in YOUth, through sport!

UXI Sport and its Rugby Institutes are proud to announce its partnership with Alma Mater International School and ESCA Wanderers to formally launch the UXI Sport “International School of Rugby Program”, commencing in 2023. UXI Sport has partnered with these two renowned Schools to provide an elite structured sporting pathway for High School student-athletes. The objective of the “International School of Rugby” Program is to develop a love and appreciation of the game of rugby, through fun and exciting sporting activities. In turn, this will INSPIRE and IGNITE a passion for physical activity, wellness, strength and endurance by facilitating a process of understanding and development of every individual’s athletic ability.

This sporting program offers young, talented sportspeople a structured plan and pathway to balance their sporting and education programs. Alma Mater and ESCA Wanderers have partnered up with us, and together we are now able to offer student-athletes an outstanding international education with personalised full-time rugby training programs at High School level. This tailored program gives student-athletes the best possible opportunity to succeed as student-athlete at Universities, Academies, Institutes or International Colleges.

This Elite Sports Rugby program is a 5-year athletic development journey, starting from Grade 8, which progresses each individual player through various key physical and rugby-specific skill sets. The aim of this journey is to introduce young players to the game of rugby and continuously develop their skills towards a competitive level of play. Opportunities are then provided to players in their final year to enroll in the “Total Rugby Program”, at one of the UXI Rugby Institutes across South Africa. This program prepares a student-athlete for a Semi-Professional career in rugby and equips the athlete for a life in and after rugby, in the form of a tertiary academic qualification.

Get in touch with us: www.uxisport.co.za | [email protected] for more information!

CAN WE KEEP UP?

An article by Loffie Eloff, (https//rugby365.com/schools/news-sa-schools/have-schools-lost-the plot-with win-at-all-costs-attitude/), inspired me to open the conversation around the many changes that are experienced in school rugby today.

Sure, it has always been a competitive contact sport, and school boy rugby has, as far as I can remember, always been the highlight of the annual schools calendar.

But things have changed, suddenly it attracts higher viewership and fan base value than Provincial match tournaments, young players are coached at higher intensity, using increasingly more sophisticated equipment than some super rugby teams do.

I was amazed by the salaries Governing School boards are willing to pay for Rugby Directors, rugby coaches and strength and conditioning coaches and team managers these days. Many of which have no formal teaching experience, but they are hired with one mission in mind and that is to WIN.

The stakes are high and the sponsors and donors expect ROI for their “investment”. So more budget is allocated every year for advanced technologies and the next trending fitness and strength attire. School boys rugby has become a lucrative market. Schools now charge exorbitant amounts of money for anyone wanting to put up a stand to sell anything from coffee to photography at tournaments. The marketing space in and around school stadiums and pavilions have become prime spots and the smallest of advert can cost a pretty penny!

It’s a new rising economy that has emerged! Schools and organizers of tournaments are in for lucrative seasons this year, that most certainly makes up for the C19 stricken 2020 and 2021 ones. When our organization recently offered to sponsor all our WP, Pumas and Cheetahs gazebos to a school in need of shade for VIP’s, medical personnel and other support activities, our offer was declined, as these were branded and we had to pay to offer them for free.

But why is this reason for concern? In South Africa diverse strategies to address persistent inequalities through endless legislation and policy implementation are endless, you have to wonder how less fortunate schools will ever be able to keep up with the Joneses?

Is the gap not increasing to the point where we are creating a Grand Canyon of division?
Players of color from talent rich areas such as the E astern Cape, simply don’t all become Siya Kolisi’s and get exported to top private schools to receive equal opportunity. Most of them are trapped in their dust ridden school yards with little to no resources to facilitate athletic development.

In these schools the working environment for Teachers and pupils are an even greater challenge than concern over adequate sport facilities. And although not as challenged as this, they are not alone any more!

An average middle-class school in South Africa that are traditional neighborhood schools in many small, medium sized towns or cities are also facing huge financial challenges with the middle class also under increasing economic pressure.

These school boards simply do not have the resources to employ the equivalent caliber Rugby/Sport head coach and supportive staff, nor can they purchase the same quality equipment, install five star gyms and employ full time coaches to work with young players in development. So it comes at no surprise that so many young athletes lose hope and give up on rugby after school.

In fact sport is blamed for creating the social inequalities in rural communities!

Of course, their plight is of no concern to Unions, Universities who are spoilt for choice from the TOP Rugby schools. Leading me to ask the question if Rugby has become an ELITE sport in South Africa? Is it time for the previous disadvantaged or middle class to accept their fate when looking at these realities? Or when they look down at their bare feet or cheaper brand boots on the worst pitch conditions we can imagine, should they just accept that they can never compete equally to those of the fortunate and give up?

Because unless you have friends in high places, or a Samaritan rescues you, these player’s chance of ever being selected for Craven week is as slim as Eskom keeping the lights on this year, or Romania winning the rugby world cup in 2023!

But it is not all BAD NEWS, if there is a lucrative economy coming from Schools boy rugby, this means job opportunities and a time to consider all the other rugby careers in high demand at different school levels, especially at junior level.

The days are gone where Teacher-coaches emerged from the old teaching colleges and universities.It is not a requirement of a Teacher in training to have any sports code coaching knowledge or skill any longer. Taking into consideration that Teaching Colleges that trained the majority of the teacher-coaches in South Africa, were closed 30 years ago, those old school teachers are now nearing retirement or have retired already. Who is now championing sports codes at school level, inspiring youngsters to participate and take up a team sport such as rugby?

Good question.

Teacher-coaches, both male and female, are becoming extinct, so to speak, leaving a massive void in skilled coaches available at all schools, not only the middle-class or previously disadvantaged ones. Many schools, in absence of bottomless budgets, are reverting to parents who were past players to coach younger teams, and often these parents are not adequately trained as rugby coaches and professionally skilled to do so.

Fundamental rugby skills should be taught at the youngest possible age. South Africa is often criticized for being unimaginative when it comes to game plan execution. But ask any player why he is executing a decision in the manner he does, and he will tell you with pride, it is because the coach says so.

I have once, out of interest, counted the amount of titles available on the game of chess written by masters across the centuries. How is it possible that so many variables of play can exist for every piece on the board, and so many different scenarios can unfold in one game? The titles are all aimed to improve strategy and skill and outsmart the opponent, but it takes years to master these skills.

So I did the same for Rugby and all I could find was mostly Autobiographies of the master coaches.

Who is teaching the real game of rugby, roles and responsibilities, restrictions of every position, laws of rugby in line with the positions and different defense and attack strategies? There is hardly time for this during normal practice sessions as fitness, strength and coaching to win the next upcoming game are of greater priority. There is sadly no time for individual positional development.

Many coaches that coach at senior amateur sides and academies, are often amazed by the absence of fundamental skills of players. Coaches that coach at A- league clubs and Institutions simply don’t have the time to correct or train skills that should have been embedded at a younger age. This can result in major injury risks.

Our youth is in desperate need of professionally trained coaches who coach to a standard of skill that is acceptable as world-class. Coaches that take the time to embed knowledge and unlock potential through positional development focus will pave the way for a higher level quality player available for SA Rugby. This is sustainable coaching!

UXI Rugby Institutes pride itself to become the NEW VARSITY of rugby careers, offering not only rugby development for players parallel and within the Union structures it is placed. It offers the opportunity for rugby enthusiasts to pursue an array of rugby related careers.

WE PROUDLY INTRODUCE YOU HOPE, OPPORTUNITY AND A PLATFORM THAT REALLY WORKS!
Our passion is to narrow the divide, produce the next generation work-force for the rugby industry in South Africa. This is not only potential professional players but more importantly the human resources for our schools, clubs and sports industry in general!

The next generation Coaches that will “Inspire and ignite Greatness!”

Cape Town, South Africa; 15 DECEMBER 2021:

UXI Sport is pleased to announce that they have taken hands with the premier provider of Fitness Education in South Africa – Health and Fitness Professionals Academy (HFPA).

As the newest division of UXI Sport and UXI Pty (Ltd), HFPA will be offering young aspirant fitness professionals highly accredited, innovative, and comprehensive programmes, to allow them to kick-start their careers in the fitness and sporting industry!

For over a period of 42 years, HFPA has led the initiative to create unity and set professional standards for the Southern African fitness industry. HFPA provides world-class tools and facilities to help aspirant fitness enthusiasts fast track their careers in fitness and sport. As one of the leading Fitness and Sporting academies in South Africa, HFPA are ready to offer UXI Rugby Institute students with EXTRAORDINARY accredited and internationally recognised HFPA fitness, health, wellness and sporting qualifications. These accreditations are by the Register of Exercise Professionals South Africa (REPSSA) and the International Institute for Complementary Therapists (IICT), which are recognized by 26 countries around world!

UXI Sport 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! 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, in careers that they are PASSIONATE about.

Through this UXI-HFPA ownership, our students can join tens of thousands of HFPA Graduates, who are employed nationally and internationally as highly respected Fitness Professionals in a variety of health, fitness, recreation and sporting environments!

For Media Enquiries:

HFPA

Paul Mills | HFPA Managing Director | [email protected]

Melanie Lowe-Martin | Marketing Co-Ordinator | [email protected]

UXI SPORT

Thea Visagie | C.O.O. UXI Sport| [email protected]

Tayla van Heerden | Digital Marketing Director | [email protected]

Careers using IT Technology in Sport Performance

The video-based performance analysis process is well defined in accredited and non-accredited academic Sport Science literature. In the sports industry the process follows a continuous loop which starts with the player or team performing during training or match-play, then an analysis (live or post-match) of their performance, followed by feedback and training interventions, then the player or team performs again – this then restarts the process loop.

Typically in South African rugby systems, the feedback process is one which involves only video and stats review within a team environment, and in a boardroom style setting. In these match/training review sessions there is a varying style, dependent on the coaching staff. In general, there is about 20 to 30 minutes (sometimes more) of face to face video discussion and presentations around the performance or specific areas of the performance. In some situations, the players interact a lot, but in other situations they simply do not get a chance to voice their opinion. These sessions become one where players sit and listen to what was done wrong and what was done right, and then get told how the team will correct these things moving forward. However, this form of feedback is not conducive to an effective learning environment for our players and generally does not create a positive learning environment.

For an effective learning experience and environment players need to be given the concern areas and find solutions on their own. From here, these solutions can be discussed and investigated. From there, the team and coaches decide on the process and interventions that will be put in place going forward. Realistically speaking, this interactive and hands-on process cannot happen in a “boardroom” styled session, as this would result in losing even more training and on-field time.

So how do we create a conducive online learning environment but still maximize our training time on the pitch? In addition to this, how do we engage with our Generation Z players to maximize their personal learning (Gen Z is the newest generation, born between 1997 and 2012. They are currently between 9 and 24 years old)? The simple answer: online analysis and sharing platforms. At the UXI Sport Rugby Institutes we use Coach Logic in our high performance program. Coach Logic allows coaches, specialist coaches and performance analysts to interact with the players online, from any place, at any given time, similar to that of online education. Coaches create playlists from training sessions and rugby matches, and then share these playlists with all the players or individual players. From here, the players can go and independently highlight their concern areas. Players and coaches can now actively engage via Coach Logic and discuss the clips at hand in real time, from their mobile device. This allows everyone to be included in their own feedback systems, give their opinion and gives the players time to think about solutions and then bring those to the table. This means that when coaches and players sit in the “boardroom” sessions, everyone has already seen the clips and has already been part of discussions surrounding the clips. These sessions now become a ‘clarity session’, where the game-play solutions are meticulously explained and broken down, so that all parties have a clear and precise understanding.

At our Rugby Institutes, we make use of a performance analysis coding software, called Nacsport; this is used to tag all our team and player events. Coach Logic has its own tagging function on their online platform; however, Coach Logic also allows you to easily import these timelines onto their platform and sync it with the video footage. Having access to these timelines allows our players and coaches to easily navigate to areas of a practice or match that they wish to review; this also allows the players to easily navigate to their involvements in the footage. This easy-to-use and time-saving app has resulted in an increase in post-match reviews by players. Not only is it quick and easy, but it is enjoyable for the players as well. Now, for the first time, they can be in control of the analysis of their own performance; and they can assess the video and see first-hand where their strengths and weaknesses lie in their game. A great feature by Coach Logic is the ability to review the video history. This shows exactly how much time was spent reviewing a video by the coaches and players.

 The Generation-Z player needs quick access to video footage and data – so this speaks right into their way of taking in information: fast, simple and efficient. Your players now also have an easy way of generating all their clips into one video, which starts to populate their very own “video rugby CV”.

In our ever changing and fast paced high performance sporting environment, it is vital that teams have a proper and efficient performance analysis system in place. This performance analysis system must have an online platform as part of its components, and Coach Logic is the perfect tool for that! In South Africa we usually find that only our national team, franchise teams and top schools have access to high performance tools to measure performance, such as online analysis systems and wearable technology, however with Coach Logics amazing pricing system, it’s now possible for everyone to have access to this vital equipment to measure our athletes performance. Furthermore, in SA rugby and international rugby there is an ever growing demand for careers using IT technology in sport performance, therefore if this is something that interests you as a reader, then one should investigate higher education options that would cover this aspect of High Performance; who knows, maybe one day you find yourself in the Rugby Championship or Rugby World Cup as an analyst in test match rugby.

If you would like to know more on how to get your hands on a Coach Logic license, or want to know more about how it works, then we invite you to contact our National Manager of Video and Game Analysis, Heinrich Painczyk ([email protected]). Our recent partnership with Coach Logic also means we can arrange discounted prices depending on your needs!

Here is what our Head Coach at our WP Rugby Academy has to say:

“Given in our environment of working with 90 odd players in an ever-rotating system, the coach logic platform has been a lifesaver. Our coaches can now analyze player footage and communicate with players on the go, wherever they are in the world, whether it be on holiday, walking to class or training. We can educate and review training sessions, matches, scheduling at any time and at any place whether on an individual level or a whole group. The flexibility of coach logic also allows for player self-development through reviewing footage, questioning coaches and communicating with each other. With the ability to import codes from various systems, our analysis platform has made things simple, easy and convenient. I would recommend Coach Logic to every player, coach, analyst, manager or even businesses as a central platform on which to grow.”

The Unconventional Pathway to your Greatest Rugby Dreams

Some of the greatest and most beloved stories of the ages is that of an underdog rising up and succeeding. Be it in films, in the workforce or in sport – there is a sensation of power when those least likely to succeed shock everyone and transform to achieve their greatness.

Dreams are fascinating things. What is your dream, and will you achieve your dream in this lifetime? I am almost certain that you would like to, and I truly hope that you do! But how bad do you want it? What lengths will you go to achieve it? Several young school-boy rugby players dream of running out onto the center field of a packed out stadium. The ultimate dream of “making it big” in rugby. Young boys sit in front of their TV’s, watching their rugby heroes, visualizing themselves as the next future stars on the international stage of rugby.

So what is the pathway then to becoming an overnight rugby champion? The conventional pathway is that a player must first make their High School’s first rugby team, and from there make it into the Craven Week squad. Once in a Craven Week squad, you’ve got your togs in the door. At the Craven Week tournament, you are scouted and selected for the Junior Springboks squad. The Junior Springboks squad is truly a prestigious achievement, and emphasizes the onset of a successful career in SA Rugby. This squad takes part in the World Rugby u20 Championship, where players battle up against powerful international rugby teams, such as Argentina, Georgia and Uruguay. From Junior Boks, players are usually offered contracts immediately into SA Rugby under-20 squads, or directly into professional Senior squads. And there you go – the traditional pathway!

However, what happens to those boys who possibly don’t make a Craven Week team, or aren’t selected for the Junior Springboks? Where is their pathway, do they even have one? Or are these boys expected to simply give up their dreams because they weren’t able to tick a box on the conventional ‘Professional Rugby roadmap’? Cue the UXI Rugby Institute pathway!

The UXI Rugby Institutes are a rugby force to be reckoned with, and are catalysts of rugby development in the 16 to 23 year old age grade. These high performance institutes are illustrating that you don’t need to give up on your dreams just because you didn’t get one opportunity. The UXI Rugby Institutes provides you with countless opportunities to make your dreams a reality. In the past year, the UXI Rugby Institutes have provided our players with the opportunities to be seen, and be selected! To date, we have had 38 students selected for various u20 rugby squads across South Africa. There are 12 players playing for the Pumas u20 squad; 17players playing for Griquas u20 squad; 6 players playing for the Cheetahs u20 squad; 2 old boys playing for the Western Province u20 squad; and 1 player playing for the Vodacom Bulls u20 squad.

Now the UXI Rugby Institutes don’t just stop at the Junior Squads, we try to get our players all the way to the top! Currently, we have Niel Venter from the Cheetahs Institute of Excellence currently training with the Toyota Cheetahs Squad. As well as Juandre Odendaal, who has been called up to the Professional New Nations Pumas Currie Cup squad. And just to add a bonus point to the UXI score board, we recently had one player from the Griquas Rugby Institute contracted to a professional team in Poland; as well as several old Western Province Rugby Academy old boys contracted to various European Rugby Unions.

So why are these rugby institutes so successful? Well, besides offering a meticulously designed high performance programme, your head coach at rugby institute is the same coach who is coaching the professional Senior squads. A rugby player, who may have been an underdog at Craven Week selection, is now given a front row seat in the ‘talent identification’ line. You finally get your shot to be seen by the coaches and Unions – an opportunity that you may have never gotten otherwise.

So you see, there is not just one pathway. You do not need to tick every traditional box to live out your dream. Being an underdog doesn’t mean that your dreams are over, in fact, it means that they have only just begun…

It is time to rise up through the UXI Rugby Institutes, and transform into the player that you dreamed of – because your dreams are closer than you think!

UXI Sport- Inspiring Greatness
#RiseoftheUnderdog