Opening International Doors
– Tiaan Stander
WPRA 2015 Season
In my final two years at Framesby High School, I played first XV and then went on to play in Craven Week 2014 for Eastern Province. It was a tremendous honour, because that year we won the tournament for the first time in a long time. In that time, I didn’t have any rugby contract or bursary prospects. I then applied at Western Province Rugby Academy, and they gave me an amazing opportunity to join the Academy.
I arrived at the Academy, nervous but excited, as I had no idea what to expect. I simply wanted to make the most of the opportunity that had been presented to me. We began our training with hiking and team building for two weeks. Without utilizing a rugby ball, each workout was loaded with modest life lessons to offer the athletes a reality check. We were coached and drilled in the gym and on the field which gave us a taste of the professional rugby player lifestyle. I really enjoyed being in that environment. Most of the players had the same drive and goals, and this made the experience effortless and meaningful. I was surrounded by amazing talent, hard workers and great coaching staff. During the season, we had a lot to take in and we had to seriously apply ourselves. We had our academy life with training and working, as well as playing a certain amount of rugby games. We also had to choose a club in Cape Town to play for; I played for Hamiltons RFC U/20, a club with great history. I loved the traditional values they instilled in us, they also taught us how to handle ourselves on and off of the pitch.
After living this lifestyle, I really wanted to see where this experience could take me and what my future could be like. I spoke to Anton Moolman, Head Coach of WPRA. I asked him if he knew of any opportunities overseas for rugby, not knowing that the question will change my entire life for the next few years. After some time had passed, as luck would have it, we ended up drawn to play against a France U/18 team. The coach of the French team spoke to our coaches about our team and its talent, and I was hopeful because I had played a great game. The next week I got a call from Anton saying “Right, here you go, the opportunity you asked for.” The coach of the French team, who spoke to our coaches, was a coach in the Federal 3, Pontarlier, France. I remember Anton saying “Do you want to go?” and I thought to myself how did everything happen so quickly? Within 2 months I was on my way overseas for the first time in my life.
PONTARLIER 2015/2016
I arrived in a breathtakingly beautiful small town in France as a 19-year-old kid, afraid and homesick at first, but eager to learn and experience new things. I was really fit and prepared, and it gave me an advantage in the team that I was playing for. I was at my peak with my kicking and general play, and I was filled with confidence. In France, rugby is a massive ladder system and I ended up catching the eye of some recruits. I ended up testing for the French top 14 academy in Loyn, France. I then got an offer from Brive to play in the French Top 14 Academy “Espoir” U/23 for one year. I impulsively took the offer before I was ready, and it ended up being a hard life lesson waiting for me.
BRIVE
I was quite excited when I arrived in Brive, but it did not turn out to be what I had imagined. My room was a small dorm with nothing inside, no bed, no fridge, just an empty room with a one plate gas stove. I borrowed a blow up mattress, bedding and food from one of the other international players until I could afford my own bed and food. He was Fijian and extremely kind-hearted. I was in a bad mental head space when the rugby started, and I felt extremely home sick. I couldn’t understand how I could be in a Top 14 Club and be treated worse than I was in Pontarlier, a club 4 levels down. It was a hard pill to swallow after working so hard. My love and drive for the game started fading after that incident. However, I pushed through this experience, and I gave my all when training started. I played for 7 games in the season when it started going downhill. We had a backline skills session and I spoke out of my place towards one of the coaches and he felt I was disrespectful. That of course wasn’t my intention; my intention was to come up with innovative ideas for the team because we were all in this together. Because of the feelings of disrespect from the coach, I never got to play for that team again. This took a major toll on me mentally, because I always try to give my all and to think that my actions was the reason for my journey at Brive being over was heart-breaking. It was a hard pill to swallow after working so hard. My love and drive for the game started fading after that incident.
ROAD BACK TO SA
I started working a normal 9-5 job and catching up with everyone after almost 3 years of playing rugby overseas. It was extremely hard for me to accept this was my life now, after I had experience so much overseas. I then ventured on to play club rugby in Port Elizabeth for Parks Rugby Club. It was just for fun, my love for the game wasn’t completely gone and would never be. The first friendly match of the season I ended up tearing my ACL in my left knee. One of the most painful experiences of my life! At that time in 2018, I didn’t want to get an operation because I didn’t see the use in it, but after some well needed prayers and positive reinforcement from family and friends I decided to get the operation done. This was in no way to further my rugby career but just to play sports and general and gym without my ACL being in the way. In February 2020, I got my ACL operation done. In that time Covid-19 spread tremendously in South Africa and we were put under a nationwide lockdown. I was still able to do rehab though and I attended rehab classes regularly. I spoke to physiotherapist, and I was surprised to hear he said I would be able to play rugby again if the recovery process proceeded as positively as it did currently. I thought to myself, maybe Covid-19 had given me a free year to recover to do rehab and train to get back into the game and my love for rugby. I reached out to my friend Pontarlier, who I stayed in contact with. He was extremely happy to hear from me again and offered me a great opportunity to play rugby and work simultaneously. I had a major decision to make: would I stay in South Africa with my loved ones, or would I chase my dreams again by playing rugby and touring France? I took myself up on the challenge and worked extremely hard to get fit again. So here I am in 2021, in Pontarlier, France doing what I love, but this time with a more mature outlook in life. I couldn’t be more grateful for my second opportunity to chase the love of the game again.
Cape Town, South Africa; 14 July 2021:
UXI Sport is pleased to announce its partnership with the IMM Graduate School. The IMM Graduate School is one of the most legendary and reputable private Higher Education providers of choice in the field of marketing, supply chain and business in South Africa. The IMM Graduate School’s offering includes certificates, diplomas, degrees and postgraduate qualifications, which are all registered with the South African Qualifications Framework (SAQA) and quality assured by the South African Council on Higher Education (CHE).
An integral part of UXI Sport’s unique High Performance Rugby Programme is its Academic Programmes, that form part of the holistic development of Student Rugby Athletes. Through the Academic Programmes, provided by our academic partners, we develop young men and women, with key attributes and qualities that offer work-readiness.
UXI Sport’s institutes are passionate about creating opportunities, job placement and most importantly an embedded work-ethic, that is driven by a dedicated professional team, that INSPIRES GREATNESS!
“Sport High Performance development combined with an exceptional, relevant marketing qualification, are powerful in itself to secure opportunities in various sectors in the South African and global economy – but most importantly the Sports Athlete is a BRAND in him/herself that needs to understand how to build this brand internationally”
#IamABrand
For Media Enquiries:
UXI SPORT
Tayla van Heerden
IMM GRADUATE SCHOOL
Irene Gregory
The first time Bolla set foot on the WPRA UXI Rugby Institute, I met a man whose smile went from his face to my heart.
A legend capped as Springbok in the history of South African Rugby ,over 80 times, and one who represented the proud WP jersey in iconic years, when crowds streamed to Newlands and camped outside the stadium for hours to see their heroes in action. Those were the days when dreams were real, and the sons from the people of the Cape, played bare foot in the dirt roads and fields of the Cape communities, They had one dream only, and that was to wear the blue and white striped jersey one day.
The days where there were no lucrative contracts and insurances. They played for the PRIDE of the jersey and loyalty to the Disa!
That spirit, that heart, are all still very evident and present in the man known as “The Rock”, who became a precious member of the WPRA coaching team in Stellenbosch at the beginning of 2021. One that few 17/18 year old players know, and some coaches in elite circles labelled, as too “old school” for the modern game! But UXI Sport believe that our youth, the “modern players of the game”- our new “ generation Z” needs these qualities, that he represents, instilled BACK into the value systems of players that enters the UXI Rugby institute rugby development program and system. Values and attributes that have been lost over the past decades but have become Future Fit skills to survive in a Y2K era.
That quality that “Inspires greatness”, that does not matter where you come from, but where you are going. And this is exactly what underpins the world-class UXI Rugby Program. We witnessed Bolla transform diverse players with diverse backgrounds and experience levels in only 5 months, to performance levels that humbled us! Not only on the field but for LIFE!
Bolla “speaks” the language of the people of our Western Cape in a way few coaches can, transferring skill, passion and pride, breaking through generation barriers. Bolla ignites HOPE, Bolla inspires greatness, years after he hung up his boots.
How proud we are of this Legend, part of the UXI Sport Dream team, leaving a mark in the lives of many aspirant and development players every day, and now returning to assist the professional coaching teams at WP.
This goes to prove how South African rugby needs their legends for more reasons than one!
UXI Sport in support of the Legends of Rugby, whose voices should never be silenced, for they represent too many lessons in the game of rugby and LIFE to bury!
Inspiring Greatness, Through Sport to Life
ANNOUCEMENT OF PARTNERSHIP
Cape Town, South Africa; 26 April 2021:
UXI Sport has partnered with My Rookie, an international application that allow us to showcase every athlete on some of the world’s most dynamic sport talent marketing networks.
UXI Sport’s unique SPORTS MANAGEMENT PLATFORM ensures that every student player in our system’s data and information is stored in a professional and world-class format to ensure an international shopwindow is created for every player in our system. This shopwindow
displays every student athlete to international clubs, Colleges and Universities.
You can join this platform today!
For Media Enquiries:
UXI SPORT
Tayla van Heerden
[email protected]
MYROOKIE
Eric Anselme
[email protected]
UXI SPORT ∙ PLAYWIZE : ANNOUNCEMENT OF PARTNERSHIP
Cape Town, South Africa; 13 April 2021:
UXI Sport has officially partnered with PlayWize, a new sports app which is launching for Rugby Union on May 3rd. PlayWize allows us to showcase all of our talented athletes, on their global sporting marketplace.
UXI Sport’s unique SPORTS MANAGEMENT PLATFORM ensures that the data and information for every student player in our system is being stored in a professional and world-class format to ensure an international shopwindow is created for each player. This shopwindow displays every student athlete to Professional clubs, Colleges and Universities from all over the world. Not only can Athletes find sporting opportunities, but they can also find educational ones.
“We believe each Athlete, whether they are professional or not, should get the most out of their time playing sport” said Gary Boddington, CEO of PlayWize. “South Africa, and UXi, has such an immense pool of talent, and with PlayWize, this talent can be seen all over the world.”
You can join this platform today by heading to www.playwize.io and registering your interest.
For Media Enquiries:
UXI SPORT
Tayla van Heerden
PLAYWIZE
Ben Clark
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