JG takes on women’s rugby

JUSTISIA SHIPENA
Chevonné de Klerk



OKAHANDJA

Worldwide and in Namibia, women’s rugby has not been as high of a priority as men’s rugby has been. All that changed when women were introduced to the Touch Down and the Try And Stop Us beneficiary.

A team of young women from JG Van Der Wath Secondary School are now part of the Okahandja Huskies Women’s Rugby Club. The first ever women’s rugby club to be officially registered as a club by the Namibia Rugby Union, the Huskies are coached by Bibi Ferdie Coetzee.

The players took part in activities and various games at training camps to develop their skills, and this got them ready for their first ever rugby match held in Swakopmund. It was the Dolphins against the Blue Roses, a women’s rugby team from Walvis Bay.

An FNB Windhoek sevens tournament was also won by the University of Namibia women’s rugby team, which is coached by Les Bougaardt.

The young women from JG also qualified as part of the Otjozondjupa regional women’s team that was supposed to take part in this year’s youth games, but this was unfortunately postponed till further notice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The young women have grown to love and enjoy playing the game and hope to one day make it to the women’s Rugby World Cup, just as their male counterparts have qualified every World Cup since 1991.