You can do anything in life: Derick Hougaard
Hougaard concentrated on goal kicking, line kicking and tactical kicking during the two hour session attended by 13 boys from the club.
You can achieve whatever you desire.
That was the message former Springbok flyhalf Derick Hougaard left with youngsters when he visited Diggers Rugby Club at his first kicking school event there.
Teaching young players the fine art of kicking is a lifelong dream of the goal-kicking legend who earned the label ‘Liefling van Loftus’ during his years as a vital cog in coach Heyneke Meyer’s all-conquering Blue Bulls machine of the early 2000s.
Every time Hougaard scored points on the Bulls’ home ground, the chorus of the Ge Korsten song Liefling blared over the stadium public address system.
He also played for Saracens and Leicester Tigers in England.
Hougaard concentrated on goal kicking, line kicking and tactical kicking during the two-hour session attended by 13 boys of the club.
The 39-year-old, who made his debut for South Africa as a 19-year-old in the 2003 World Cup, said rugby was an unforgiving game.
“Schools and clubs pay hardly any attention to coaching this extremely technical but vital part of the game, but as soon as a team loses due to a failed goal kick, the player is blamed.”
The former Bok pivot presented the day as a free community project.
“It is an opportunity of a lifetime. My son had to teach himself to kick and his skills were never honed by anybody,” a proud mother said while young players managed to convert kicks from close to the centre spot time after time.
Beaming youths, and their parents, swarmed their rugby hero for cellphone photos in the parking lot after the event, while the former Springbok posed patiently and shared encouraging words with the young players.
“Test rugby is something very special, but there is nothing quite like schoolboy rugby. It’s a family affair. I still remember how my own mother ran up and down the touchline during my own junior years,” Hougaard added.
“I’ll leave you with one thought: don’t allow anyone to tell you that anything in life is impossible.”
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