QOU VADIS ENNERDALE?

Our community is overrun by social ills of all varieties and extends. Daily, one is bombarded by lamentations, good enough to rival the Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah. This in itself is good, since it indicates an acknowledgement by the community that something is amiss and in dire need of corrective action. Sadly, this is where the action ceases, we lament the situation.

There are however those few individuals who are trying to redress the situation and have introduced measures to do so. Since I’m not qualified to speak on behalf of anyone else, I will speak on the efforts of Ennerdale Rugby Football Club.

The club was formed 21st March 2006 and has been offering the youth and young adults of Ennerdale an opportunity to get involved in “the game played in heaven”. Since our inception we’ve achieved the following:

1. We’ve won our league in two consecutive years. It wasn’t the top league of the Golden Lions but still it had to be done and we did.
2. We’ve been instrumental in assisting two young men with fulfilling their dreams to make a career in the military
3. We’ve secured a permanent job for one member of or club, Mr Bestell Mondo, with the Lions. He started as a Development Coordinator and is now assisting the Vodacom Cup team and the Golden Lions u/21 with the logistics.
4. We’ve trained 10 young men to become internationally recognised coaches by assisting them to attend and successfully complete the International Rugby Board Level 1 Coaching Course. The following gentlemen will receive their certificates soon: Navarre Snell, Alex Sibiya & Kassim Mohammed
5. All our coaches are Boksmart certified. This means that they know how to coach rugby safely and effectively
6. Three of the seven certified Boksmart educators in the Golden Lions are from this club. They are Ranleigh Delport, Hassen Mayet & Perry Drift
7. Mr Clint Van Rooyen is currently studying sport administration via the GPG’s Expanded Public Works Programme and is currently doing his practical training at the Golden Lions. We wish him well with the practical.

Currently the club is conducting coaching clinics for all children interested in rugby. This is the third year that these clinics have been presented.

It is with great sadness that one has to report that the support from the Ennerdale community has been seriously lacking. The club has done everything in its power to motivate the local schools to make use of the opportunity to introduce the sport to our schools. We’ve had numerous meetings with the Principals of the schools in the area without much success. Our only request to the schools was to send notices to the parents and make one educator available on Saturdays to assist us with keeping order and discipline at the clinics.

The following schools have been sporadically sending children to the clinics: Mid Ennerdale, Spectrum, Poseidon, Odin-Park and Lawley while Mr Heradien was at the school. The GDE Sport Department has had a number of meetings, as late as on 19 April 2012 to discuss the implementation of schools leagues. The Department has created opportunities for the schools and the community to appoint people to train in order to assist with homework and sport coaching. The department is so serious that they’ve employed and remunerates, as an example 10 people to Lawley Primary to assist with sport coaching.

The following schools, in Ennerdale, have received kit and equipment from the GDE: Oakdale Secondary, Ennerdale Secondary, Lawley Primary & Secondary & Finetown Primary and Secondary.

We are prepared to partner with our schools to get the rugby development programme working in our schools.

The best and most regular attendance has been that of Laura Vicuna Educational Centre – a school run by the local Catholic Church based at Don Bosco Educational Centre. The Salesian Sisters also provide transport to collect the children in Finetown as well as some sandwiches for all at the end of the clinic.

The club realises that our efforts are but a drop in the ocean but we are prepared to put in the effort. We urge our Principals, teachers, SGB members, church and business leaders in our community to partner with us to stem the tide of social degeneration, delinquency and moral decay.

Ennerdale, it is time we stopped playing the person and start playing the ball for all our sakes.

If you would like to get involved, no matter the scale of your involvement, please contact the Club Chairman, Ranleigh Delport, on 0724213108 and he will point you in the right direction.