Touch Rugby champion fly’s SA flag high
FAIRLAND – Marcus Nkwane hopes to better the sport, grow it to be recognised as a national sport and give youngsters the guidance and knowledge he has learnt.
FAIRLAND – Marcus Nkwane (27), who attended Greenside High School and matriculated in 2010 has been selected to represent South Africa at the Touch Rugby World Cup this year in Malaysia.
The young sports champion said his passion for touch rugby started in high school. “I had always thought that touch rugby was a girl’s sport and never really paid attention to it,” he said.
“I was very wrong about this. One day a friend of mine challenged me to try out and said if I don’t like it I don’t have to come back. I went to one practice and had fun, enjoyed every moment of it to a point where I went to a second practice and eventually one thing led to another and I was in a team… From that point onwards, I was hooked and I’ve never looked back till this day.”
Currently living in Fairland, Nkwane plays for the Gauteng Touch Association which will host a provincial tournament from 21 to 23 March at Queens High School. “My selection for the 2019 World Cup started in 2014 when I initially got selected for the 2015 World Cup squad but unfortunately did not make the final team.” This did not stop Nkwane from working even harder. “I was so close and this motivated me to do my best for the following year’s World Cup. I was then selected for the World Cup men’s open squad for 2019 and made it onto the final team list.”
Travelling to Malaysia is quite costly and Nkwane said he was looking for sponsors for him and other individuals in the team. “This is a great sport but is a self-funded from provincial to nationals. This makes it very difficult for your players from a poor background to perform, we have great players all around.”
Nkwane hopes to grow the game in schools around Gauteng and get it recognised as a national sport so the media and government would give it recognition.
“My future plans are to give back to the youth, give them the guidance and knowledge that I now have and have them building the sport to be able to compete at the same level as our competitors.”
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