Nineteen-year-old flanker, Niel Venter, has found himself in the optimal position to make his dreams turn into realities – from the Institute model within a year, into the professional Toyota Cheetahs’ den!
Niel, who is an extremely talented young rugby player, who was not offered a semi-professional/professional contract or a bursary after school, is pursuing a dedicated path to help make his rugby dreams come true. He nevertheless believed in his dreams and his talent, and this led to his parents registering him into the self-funded Rugby Institute at the Cheetahs, the “Cheetahs Institute of Excellence”! Here, he was exposed to the same level of high-performance training and development as a contracted or semi-contracted player, exposed to the same coaches and high performance standards.
This also led Neil to the Under 20 pro-team training squad in 2020 already. All the way from the rugby posts of HJS pitches; the story of Niel Venter offers INSPIRATION and ignite HOPE and opportunities to many young aspirant rugby boys.
The reality of the current South African sporting economy is that it has been further financially crippled by Covid 19 – the youth needs to create their own opportunities through development platforms such as the one that the UXI Sport Rugby Institutes offer, closely aligned to the Union professional pathways.
The Cheetahs Institute of Excellence and the UXI Rugby Institutes are self-funded models – it offer players the opportunity to INVEST into their talent and future in a platform that creates an ultimate athletic development opportunity. It is not only investing into a two or more years sporting career; it is an investment into the opportunity to make a dream turn into a reality, an investment into the significant adaptations that an athlete must endure in their sport to reach an ultimate goal. It is an investment into the qualities and values that are learnt that reflects into daily life: accountability, adaptability, ownership, sacrifice and toughness. It’s investing in the opportunity and the environment which cultivates and inspires GREATNESS across all facets of the sport to life- An opportunity pursued by Neil Venter and one that will give him the RETURN OF INVESTMENT in years to come!
