Girls’ touch rugby is here to stay
"Touch rugby was really the only sport that allowed you to be yourself and actually learn how to play the sport without anyone criticising you or your skill."
Get ready to see more young women on the field as girls’ touch rugby gets ready to make its mark in Bryanston.
A new all-girls team, spearheaded by head coach James Swann, aims to empower young women of all ages and have them on the field breaking stereotypes.
The team, born out of Bryanston High School, started out with a small group of girls. It has since been adopted by the Bryanston Honey Badgers and grown to a player count which has almost tripled.
Players Arminita-Lee Swann, Chantal Mkhonza and Janai Dube said the team meant so much more to them than what many people realised.
According to Chantal, many of the school’s sports required the learners to undergo a trial process which meant that coaches really only picked a selective number of players for the year. “Touch rugby was really the only sport that allowed you to be yourself and actually learn how to play the sport without anyone criticising you or your skill,” she said.
Arminita-Lee added that due to the trial process, many of the girls were left just sitting around after school without anything to do. “They would just be sitting around after school, waiting for their parents. This [touch rugby] gives the girls something fun to do with their time,” she said.
Chantal added, “Coming into touch rugby, none of us have really played the sport before so no one was really better than anyone – we are all just a group of girls who are trying to empower each other and learn the sport.”
Janai said it was really all about a sense of community, that was what differentiated the team from others. “The girls, regardless of their age difference, and coach just worked together and grew together,” she said.
Swann admitted that the girls had to fight for what they wanted, due to stereotypes around girls in rugby ‘but it just ‘fuelled’ them to play better and harder’.
As for next year, the team hopes to not only venture into the competitive space but they also have two major heavyweights that will be partnering with the team – former Springbok rugby player Jaque Fourie, and performance and lifestyle brand Atomiq Nutrition. Fourie will be assisting with the coaching while Atomiq Nutrition will be the team’s nutritional sponsor.
“They [Atomiq Nutrition] will do an assessment on each girl in order to see what nutrients they need and that will be provided. This will allow all of the girls to be at their best nutritional level, in turn improving their performance on the field and in their everyday lives,” added Swann.
Swann looks forward to having the girls back on the field next year to officially launch the team and hopefully get the girls competitively playing.
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