It is my privilege to report back on the completion of yet another successful High Performance Elite Players and Coaches Course as well as a very successful Advance Players course all held in December 2011. These courses were booked to capacity and it is a delight to announce the participation of some exceptional coaches; the likes of Murray Mexted (Director of IRANZ, Former All Black Player), John Plumtree (Coach for the Sharks), Gary Gold ( Former Springbok Assistant coach and newly appointed Director of Rugby for Newcastle), John Mitchell (Head coach of the Curry Cup winners – Lions), Braam van Straaten (Kicking Coach for Australia) Grant Bashford (Backline coach for the Sharks), Wayne Taylor (respected conditioning coach for the Lions) who were all modules presenters and the position specific coaches who consisted of Johan Allan, Ashley Evert, Pieter de Villiers, Ian Macdonald, Jerome Paarwater, Werner Swanepoel, Louis Koen, James Small, David Campese, Hugh Reece Edwards with Tim Goodenough covering the mental side of things.
We had a strong contingency of Internationals that attended these courses with applicants from Australia, Argentina, Scotland and Namibia. These gentleman enjoyed our local beauty and hospitality in the spectacular setting of Hilton College situated in the Midlands of Natal, who even sports a private game reserve - true African style. The award winners for these courses were Ollie Hoskins (currently training with the Western Force and in my opinion a soon to be Wallaby player), Waldo Prinsloo and Andrew Holland on the High Performance Course and Dennis Cox, Stephan Oberholzer and Ian Smith shining for the youngsters on the Advance Players Course).
Last but not least we also completed a very successful Advance Players and Coaches course in January 2012 which was held at a school with the most awesome sea view – Northwood Boys High in Durban – just what our Namibian applicants ordered. The course was once again filled to capacity and the applicants were privileged enough to be tutored and coached by most of the amazing names mentioned in the High Performance Elite Players’ report. The award winners of this course were Pascal Bauwens, Wesley White and Gerrie Labuschagne.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome each course graduate to the Investec International Rugby Academy family, we will be following your careers and successes with pride. I would also like to thank all the exceptional coaches that come to these courses with a love for the game and a hunger to contribute to the success of each applicant.
Dick Muir