The Rugby Advisory Committee of St. Joseph’s College together with their school administration commenced a Junior Rugby Academy for the under 14 kids to unearth rugby talent, in a bid to increase the player base.
The inaugural session was held last Saturday at the main College grounds. According to the St. Joseph’s College Director of Rugby, Bilal Yusuf, the main reason to start up this program is to increase the player base which will benefit St. Joseph’s College rugby in the long-run.
Currently, Rugby is being played by only about 100 schoolboys with approximately 20 players from each age category starting from under 10 to under 20. Some of the more prominent rugby playing schools in Sri Lanka such as Royal College, Trinity College and Isipathana College have a player base of about 500 with about 50 players participating in each age group.
Photo Album – Joes launches Junior Rugby
The main target of this academy will be to see at least 100 new kids taking up the oval ball game and eventually witness over 200 rugby players at St. Joseph’s College in a single season. The hard-working coaches were busy teaching the young boys the correct techniques of rugby in a fun and interactive method.
Cricket, Swimming and Basketball have always been the top 3 sports at St. Joseph’s College and with this initiative, Rugby will certainly challenge the ‘Big 3’. The larger player base will increase the competition among the players and will benefit the school to sustainable success in this sport in the future.
