Get Into Rugby in a Moroccan way
Get Into Rugby inaMoroccan way - At the beginning of April, the entire Rugby Africa's team found itself in Marrakesh for a seminar to celebrate the confederation's 30th anniversary. the Moroccan Royal Rugby Union seized this opportunity to launch its Get Into Rugby program with a tournament.
At El Harti stadium in Marrakeshover 490 children participated in matches and games of all kinds while only 300 kids were invited at first. The day was divided into two parts, the first one illustrated the phase " Try " of Get Into Rugby. Try rugby, get in touch withthis new sport, have a first contact with the ball. Then, our new players startedthe " Play " phase, a more concrete second part which allowed those comfortable enough to play short rugby matches to close the festival.In total, 497 children were on the ground among which 302 boys and 195 girls from 7 to 15 years old and supervised by 30 educators, 18 men and 12 women. About ten disabled children could also get a first experience withrugby, all enjoyed this day tremendously as they got to play rugby, sing and dance !
To get everybody readyfor the big day, the supervisordelivered a half-day training course beforethe tournament. The educators were young students for the majority of them.
This festival was organized, in the Moroccan way, allin music and dance for the enjoyment of the participants. Key figures attended the demonstration show such as Abdelaziz Bougja, Rugby Africa's chairman as well as all the Executive committee, Morgan Buckley fromWorld Rugby, Lino Bacco from Radio Mars, and some other most welcomed media broadcasting some sequences on national tv channels.
The tournament ended by one minute of silence then one minute of applause in memory of Jean-Luc Barthès, real architect oftraining and development of the African rugby, who fought for 15 years for the success of this Get Into Rugby project. All the children thensang the Moroccan national anthem.
This event opened the doors to a circuit of festivals which will be organized all over the Moroccan territory in the next few weeks. The Ministry of Education scheduled the school national championship of rugby in Marrakesh duringthe week which followed the Rugby Africa’s seminar ; and a couple of hundred pupils supportedthe colors of their respective schools. Coming next is the "Spring of the Moroccan rugby " from May 8th to 14th in Rabat where more than a thousand children are expected.
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About Rugby Africa:
Rugby Africa (www.RugbyAfrique.com) is the governing body of rugby in Africa and one of the regional associations under World Rugby. It unites all African countries that play rugby union, rugby sevens, and women’s rugby. Rugby Africa organizes various competitions, including the qualifying tournaments for the Rugby World Cup and the Africa Sevens, a qualifying competition for the Olympic Games. With 39 member unions, Rugby Africa is dedicated to promoting and developing rugby across the continent. World Rugby highlighted Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia as three of the six emerging nations experiencing strong growth in rugby.
