OVERCOMING THE POVERTY PANDEMIC IN SPORT

UXI INTERNATIONAL RUGBY INSTITUTES RESPOND

I recently read an article of a once brilliant rugby player who was fortunate to land a rugby contract immediately after school, but now lives in a tiny backyard room of his family’s humble home.

Then my journey started to research the success rate of post rugby career professionals in life after their careers and or contracts came to an end. The results were shocking to discover how many junior contracted players dropped out of rugby within the 1st 3 years of receiving them. The sad reality is that a very small percentage of these drop-outs had any other skill sets to provide employment for them after their opportunities in rugby ended.

Due to the covid-19 crisis, South Africa’s sports industry was one of the hardest hit and the long term effects will take years to recover.

However a poverty pandemic in sport was already present before covid played a role, when analyzing evidence based research of once contracted player athletes then to where they are in the present day, who is to blame?

Is it the Unions with an absence of player support programmes such as life-skills and player wellness in elite sport? Or does the career guidance and counseling offered in the classrooms and on field at school fail our youth? Maybe it is the parent’s who are also ignorant in understanding the realities and risks of professional rugby and contract at all cost attitudes, and that a 10 year or longer career with millions of rand contracts per annum is only a reality for less than 1% of all players.

No one ever thinks of lifelong medical costs and mental health. The temptation to soar high with lucrative junior contracts and invest in temporary luxury such as clothing, cars, jewelry and holidays often outweighs smart choices such as investing in skills acquisition, and saving for retirement and or investing wisely. The fact remains that it becomes a vicious circle that in many cases has a domino effect on more than one life or family.

The truth is that there is an increasing demand for qualified rugby coaches at all levels of junior and senior rugby in South Africa in every province,  as well as for video and game analysts and Rugby specific strength and conditioning coaches. Most top rugby schools are now running their rugby departments as professional units so this in itself is creating job opportunities everywhere. 

Love or hate the Springbok, South Africa is also known as one of the top ranking rugby nations in the world and most developing rugby countries want to learn from us. UXI Rugby Institutes have placed a number of players in international coaching roles, and with its new Coaching Career programs will offer aspirant young coaches the opportunity to learn from some of  the best coaches in the industry, whilst job shadowing, being mentored by them and receiving work placement to build up the required hours for World Rugby Level 2 Coach as well as a National Certificate in Coaching, whilst also earning a salary. 

Marketing and business knowledge in sport can create various opportunities in sport but also offers valuable knowledge in managing your own name as a brand in sport. All players in the high performance program are encouraged to study the IMM express programs that is short, impactful and packed with the fundamentals of branding and marketing of a brand.

In so doing UXI International Rugby Institutes are not just taking a player not afforded any opportunities in contract and bursary models elsewhere to real opportunities on-field but mostly creating in each individual a true champion for life!