TRT News

St Martins girls reflect after Safaricom 7s (Nairobi)

on Nov 24 in Events, Kenya, News tagged by Martin TRT

By Linda Anyango

The St.Martins Kibagare Rugby team that represented the school in the Girls Secondary School competitions at the Safari sevens could not hold their joy for being selected among the top school girls rugby teams in Kenya. Having begun as tag rugby players with the Tag Rugby Trust the Westland school girls did not think a game played with tags would make a big difference in their lives and less to say build their futures through sport.

Tag Rugby Trust media had a one on one with some of these brilliant players who opened up saying;

Phoebe Akinyi

“I had never imagined l would find myself playing Rugby but the non contact version (Tag rugby) stimulated the interest and absorbed all the fear l had about this game. I am the school head girl in form three and after l had watched the senior Rugby games and players get injured, rugby really did not tick up my interest.

When a Salesforce Tag Rugby Trust team introduced the game l did give it a try later changing my attitude. Tag Rugby is a game that commands discipline as it has helped me in school work knowing there is nothing l cannot do if l managed to overcome fear of involvement. It has taught me that life is the way you take it not the way others take it. I look forward to playing Rugby at club level after my secondary school and to make it big like my idol Linda Anyango who plays for the Kenya women’s national team.
We look forward to a Rugby holiday training program with our coaches Linda Anyango and Ronald Okoth.”

Dorothy Kerubo (Form 2)

“Tag Rugby has totally changed my life. Learning how to play this interesting game has made it hard for me to back off the Rugby pitch. With all the basics in passing the ball, side stepping, spotting gaps and overlaps has encouraged and made me the tough player l am because other people now appreciate and praise me. Playing at the Safari 7s was an honour for me since it is my first ever Rugby tournament and was in front of a big crowd. It is in my plans to continue playing Rugby at club and international level even after secondary school.
We need to work more on our Co-ordination and learn how to play without arguing like my coach said, giving each other support on the pitch and encouraging one another makes the team stronger.”

Silvia Wamboi

I am a form one student and joined Tag Rugby last year. Since then it has helped me do my mathematics subject well and assisted my coordination with teammates. I truly concur with the fact that as a game Tag Rugby builds futures, it has helped me work twice harder and learned to persevere and relate well with other people. Playing at the Safari 7s was a stepping stone for us because it has built our confidence and prepared us for bigger engagements ahead of us. I want to work on self trust and confidence as well as faith in my teammates as a unit. When this is accomplished we can cover the gaps that were created as opponents made their way to score against us.”

St Martins Rugby Girls with their Heroine Linda Anyango

The school Head teacher sister Damiana can comfortably sit down and explain bit by bit of how a simple game of Tag Rugby has changed lives of pupils in St.Martins Girls schools not just as a game but imparting life skills and shaping careers.

“This game has become a life skill subject that caters for career grooming in our school now. It has made the girls more active than ever and the best way to relax after a busy day at school. I now trust that given the opportunity the game is going to take them very far because they have the heart and their hard work also reflects in their school work. Salesforce and Tag Rugby Trust has registered tremendous development at St.Martins with the donation of laptops in the school computer room and a fully funded wireless connection. We have full equipment in form of tags, bibs, balls and game manuals and feel enriched and honored to be associated with the Tag Rugby Trust”.

“I call upon companies to sponsor and support tag rugby activities in their plans of building futures using sports”, sister added.

Now thats Legacy!

From TRT Kenya team