Kabelo Mollo
Just about every hobby I’ve ever had has revolved around sport. Whether it was collecting player cards from the USA 94 soccer World cup, or those disk like collectables from the 95 rugby effort in South Africa.
Sport has always been the centre of my fascination. Perhaps that’s to do with the schools I attended and their natural inclination towards them. Or maybe it’s my father’s influence who took me to my first football match as early as 1993 when I was just nine years old and absolutely besotted with Kaizer Chiefs and its star man Theophilus Doctorson Khumalo. I was glad that I didn’t run in to him when he was in Maseru with the legends because even at my big age I’d still have been starstruck!
My current hobby is the best part of my week. My wife says I’m infinitely more tolerable after it. Every Sunday afternoon between 15h00 and 17h00 myself and a couple of guys congregate at Maseru English Medium Prep School playing touch rugby! I am thoroughly enjoying reprising my school and varsity days with this run around. It’s a great way to blow off the previous week’s steam in preparation for the challenges of the new one, and also a magnificent way of keeping active and maintaining some semblance of fitness.
When we first started, the game moved at a snail’s pace and the errors were plenty. You could see the skills sets were there somewhere but the cobwebs needed to be shed in a serious way. They certainly have been now! The game is lightening fast now and errors are at as premium. It’s super competitive and has just enough edge to spur you on to give your best effort for every sequence of play.
A brotherhood is definitely forming amongst the regulars, and aside from what we’re able to do for our bodies it’s also great to meet the different guys. Amongst us are a former Kenyan pro whose rugby brain is exceedingly smart, the former Likatola coach who is no mug with the oval ball. He disproves the old adage that rugby players wear their IQs on their backs; there’s also a set of brothers with sleek handling skills and wonderful acceleration off the mark.
Then there’s the young guys with pace to burn and an eagerness to keep going. While we generally play on Sundays we also take advantage of any public holidays for a game. Sunday games are normally 60-75mins. Holiday games can and have lasted for up to 3 hours! The young guys not wanting to stop.
Touch rugby on a Sunday is a brilliant way to escape the stresses of our lives. For far too many the bottle has become the answer to that escape. In my view and from what I see, we’re a nation that drinks much too much. Too many times I’ve seen people walking along the road on a random day of the week drinking a quarts of beer in the morning hours. That to talks to bleakness, and societal dysfunction. Why would a young, able bodied person be drinking 660Mls of beer during working hours? Why wouldn’t that person be working? Anyway, that’s beside the point. What I’m saying is, we have placed too heavy a burden on alcohol when we could be avoiding, or escaping our problems through different means. Means that might actually benefit us. Sports is that avenue!
Football, running, touch rugby and even walking should supersede drinking when it comes to means for stress relief.
Many tell me they don’t know how to play, or are scared to play when I invite them to join us. I’ve even heard “ke sport sa makhooa” which is wholly incorrect, but be all of that is it may, the invitation is open to any and all folks who are so inclined. We’re building a nice little community and we would welcome new members. When we started we were keen for female participants Too. I’ve been trying to convince my wife to join us since we started. I’m not making any headway but maybe if we can get a critical mass of ladies, she’ll see the light…
Touch rugby Sundays is the best part of my week. It might be yours too if you try it out…
