In a whirlwind week, our CEO, Phil Klevorick, has travelled from our Head Office in Las Vegas, through Doha in Qatar and on to incredible border that separates Zimbabwe from Zambia, the incredible Zambeze River and the Victoria Falls.
During his time at the Falls, Phill was able to meet the players and sfatt from The Livingstone Rhinos Rugby Club and take in one of their training sessions.
Afterwards Phil spoke to some of the players as well as Ed Whitfield, the man charged with building the Victoria Falls 7s in 2023. There are a number of programmes expanding across Zambia including the amazing Tag Rugby Trust. Over the last 11 years the Trust has engaged with over 60,000 people, brought on 1,200 volunteers across 19 rugby projects and has built an incredible base in 7 towns through the sport of rugby.
Phil commented on the amazing success of the Tag Rugby Trust "What these guys have built is truly amazing. They really do epitomise the spirit and philosophy of The Rugby Foundation - Growing the Game Globally." TRT currently operates in six Countries, five of which are in Africa. Over the past 15 years from a humble start in Uganda, the Trust has engaged with over 128,000 people at 143 locations. "The Tag Rugby Trust is exactly the kind of organisation that the Foundation wants to support."
"One of the most striking thing was the passion and enthusuasm of the players. They may not have much in the way of equipment, or even footwear, but you simply cannot dampen that amazing spirit. We left behind some of our Foundation Rugby balls for them and we will continue to find ways that we can support the Trust including our new TAG belts for adults."
If you, or a business you know, can help to support TRF and TRT's work in these areas please get in touch with us by sending an email here, we, and all of the players that get so much from the programmes will be incredibly grateful and 100% of your support will go to bringing opportunities & providing equipment.
Clearly the work of the Foundation is never done as Phil travelled South from Zambia to Cape Town South Africa for the 2022 Rugby Sevens World Cup.
"One of the brilliant things about rugby and the Federation is that no matter where you travel, you are always surrounded by friends and at the Rugby 7s World Cup there were plenty. During an immense four days I managed to meet up with some of the TRF Ambassadors from different parts of the globe including Clem from UAE and Sam from Malta to update them on new initiatives and learn about the progress in their countries too"
Phil makes friends wherever he travels and SA wasn't about to disappoint. Leaving the stadium in Cape Town one evening, he bumped into two Police Officers and they began talking.
Once the discovered that Phil was a former 'Mounty' in Canada and they all swapped stories about their policing, they invited him into their special 'Uber' to take him back to his hotel...
A short but productive trip meeting old friends, Ambassadors and making new acquaintances seems to have cemented the work of the Foundation in another region of Africa and one that we are very much looking to build on espeecially with our new sustainability programme for events and Rugby Recycles.
To find out more, ask us by emailing here.
