It was the A game or no game for this year's senior rugby team.

ELIZABETH JOSEPH
Timmy Kahiha

Scrums and tackles...left ,right ,center! Broken bones,bloody nostrils and shifted joints.A few curses here and there, with erupting tempers.This struggle clearly stating that good things do not come easy and it did not and could not have been,if it wasn't for the rough days that the Demian Canaries endured.These days led to glory because for the first time in six years,Academia finally made it to the quater finals in the Momentum school's rugby league.It was a milestone for our school and even though the team only plays the development league,they managed to get to the next level of school rugby.The level where adrenaline is the in drug and everyone seems to be high on it.Our school,in order to get to the quater finals,which took place at the Windhoek Gymnasium School on the 27th of July 2019,had to play qualifier games against the rival teams,High Technical School,Ella Du Plessis Secondary School and Delta Secondary School.

Qualifying for the finals was only one highlight for the team this year.There has been immense improvement in the effort put into the team by the players and the team managers.The team stepped up it's game this year and signed into the Fitness4Africa gym to improve individual body strength and fitness.One of the players ,who is also the team's two year top try scorer,Ray-Linus Shikale,says that he and his entire team had a good season ,probably the best season they have ever had in all the three years that this specific team has played together..."The bonds grew stronger and that to me,helped the team grow stonger".He further went on to say,"...I do not like the fact that the team got so good only in my final year of play and the fact that the team has to find replacements for us,the senior players." When asked about how he felt after loosing their biggest game, Ray-Linus said ,"It hurt...playing that hard and loosing at the finals and because of avoidable mistakes by the team members themselves,but I am glad that we got a chance to play that day." Shikale was fortunate enough to get eyes from other school's coaches and premier league coaches and all this because of his hardwork on the field.Not to credit only one player,the entire team and the team coaches ,Mr Uakuramenua and Mr Bok,did the most this year and although the most people deemed the team useless at the beginning,the Canaries reached high enough to get a taste of the top branches.Much appreciation goes to our outgoing boytjies,Presly Shombe,Stanley Eksteen,Punaete Neumann,Tamien Eiseb, Newwelin Helm,Ray-Linus Shikale and captain Byron Wayne Izaks.For the rest of the team,we can surely believe that if not next year,or the year after that,the Canaries are going to harvest their much needed and long awaited comeback victory.It is nearly about time and Academia is behind the team through the journey.Forever backing our boytjies!