History has been made with Donald Ngwenya, the KZN Rugby Union Development Manager since 2007 being appointed as the Northwood Rugby Head Coach. Ngwenya beat out 21 other suitably qualified candidates that had applied for the position which became available overnight. He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and a Sports Management Diploma from the University of Johannesburg but more importantly he has 23 years of coaching experience under the belt. He started his career in the classroom as a teacher, pretty much just like outgoing coach Swys de Bruin did. Ironically he joined the Sharks from the Golden Lions where he had been their Development Official from 2002 to 2007. Now Ngwenya benefits from the sudden departure by de Bruin to the Golden Lions from the Sharks (and Northwood). Apart from his role as the Development Manager which includes overseeing the coaching and financial structures at about 30 little development club projects, Ngwenya has been involved in coaching at a provincial level as well as with the SA Schools, SA under-19 and SA under-20 teams. Key to his appointment was the success he achieved as coach of the DSRU under-16 side that beat the Bulls in the Inter-provincial Tournament (IPT) club rugby final in 2012. Along the way to winning this title he also won over the support of the players and their parents. The Northwood Rugby Board (NRB) is confident that he can build on this youth club rugby success at school rugby level.
Northwood Rugby for 2013
The NRB was established in April 2012. Under the guidance of Head of Rugby Malcolm Kennedy and with the input of experienced Swys de Bruin, they established three new pillars of Northwood Rugby: Player Skill Development, Coaches Development and Key Player Recruitment. In December 2012 new coaches were appointed for the school’s age-group teams and each of these teams had teachers appointed as team managers, to facilitate the gap between the classroom and the sports field. When Swys de Bruin accepted a once in a live time offer from the Lions, it looked like it would threaten to derail the NRB’s plans. However the structures at Northwood Rugby have specifically been designed to address the risk of key elements departing from Northwood throughout the next three years. Northwood Sports Director, Brian Gow commented: “Losing Swys is a big disappointment for us, but something that we are able to quickly overcome. The timing of Swys’s departure could not be timed more perfectly as the planning and building phase of the NRB has just been completed, and we are moving over to the next phase of Execution”.
As part of their wider solution for Northwood Rugby 2013, the school will bring on board the following four individuals, who will be playing key roles for the rest of the 2013 Rugby Season:
- Donald Ngwenya will be taking over as Head Coach of Northwood 1st team and Technical Advisor to all age groups at the school.
- Dr. Henning Gericke has been contracted to serve as Northwood Rugby’s Teams Mentor and Sport Psychologist for the 2013 season.
- Dr. Sherylle Calder has been contracted as Visual Skills coach and to establish the EyeGym program at Northwood School. This program will be aimed at not only improving all sporting codes at the school but also academic performance, via the benefits the program will deliver.
- Swys de Bruin will remain Northwood School’s patron of rugby with ad hoc interventions in the coaching and technical aspects during the season.
Is this a new development with the KZNRU? Surely their coaches are required to do a job at the Union? Is this moonlighting or sanctioned by his current employers? Can we expect more KZNRU employees going to coach at the schools around the province?
@Gungets Tuft: if only you knew how much of it exists there, but its not the school per say to blame , but rather this New Team
@Westers: very true
@Gungets Tuft: Agreed
@NW_Knight: If the receptionist at the Sharks was able to scout talent and then make sure, via senior management at the Union, that they get sent to Northwood, then yes, she should resign. It seems to me that this unhealthy situation exists at Northwood.
@NW_Knight. He obviously wont be doing much work with any clubs during rugby season if he gives the necessary time to Northwood. No matter how you paint the picture it is not healthy for SBR to have Sharks coaching staff invloved in coaching at one or two schools. They should rather offer general coaching assistance to all schools.
@Westers: No, he is the Development Officer for black clubs. Why would you want him to give up his day job? If the team manager was the receptionist at the Sharks, would she also have to give up her job?
@NW_Knight. Has therefore given up his position with the Sharks?
@Westers: Sharks had absolutely nothing to do with it. His was one of many CV’s and he was chosen by Northwood for his ability.
@Pedantic. Is it great work by NW management or a Sharks appointment?
@Green Hopper: I’ve watched Donald coach juniors first hand – big respect – he is a massive catch for Northwood and I expect him to make a big difference there. Give him a couple years and they will be very competitive in tier 1 rugby.
Great work from NW management to bounce back after the loss of Swys.
@Green Hopper: If you are talking about Donald, this article starts off with his CV.
@rugbyfan: No new coach has been announced. Chances are van Heerden who coached the 2nds will take the reigns.My hope is they get Darryl Mauer to come in again,but I hear he is very involved in the Selborne Primary set-up.Steve Turner is too raw,but he one for the future.Van Heerden and Turner are the only worthy in-house replacements I can think of.
LOL! No, the money is still there. Working on trying to get those Zim boys early on, in Grade 8, but that’s going to require capital.There’s only one that is due to come this year, but is yet to be confirmed.
i don’t think he is going to make a difference , i don’t know his record and maybe we can have his CV up here , it might help us, or me being able to be more positive about this appointment
@Playa: Are there any new Zim players coming to Dale this year or has the money run out.
@Playa: Do they have any in house coaches good enough to step up or they going to have to bring new blood in.
@Playa: Whats happening on the Dale front with a new coach
What a resume’ this guy has. Seems Northwood have bagged quality here, good for them.
Well done
@Grasshopper: Open to the public as well, clearly.
It’s a good idea – just as Northwood have their Indoor cricket centre that provides a service to all-comers. Earn some rent from facilities that would otherwise be empty 50% of the time.
Yikes!! Who pays for all this? I see there are some practitioners listed for both schools so I guess these are all independant experts who are on various retainers and not held exclusively by one school.
Here is the Northwood team; http://www.kpmed.co.za/northwood.htm
@Greenblooded, check what we have access to at Glenwood; http://www.kpmed.co.za/glenwood.htm
Pretty good stuff!
@Grasshopper: Ja – Good idea. I would think Hugh Reece-Edwards would be the ‘patron’ of Northwood having attended there.
Eish!! Talk about going pro. How many other schools have an on-board sports psycologist? And Sherryle Calder (Springbok Hand-Eye coach) probably doesn’t come cheap either. Where is all the moolah coming from to pay for all this? School fees?
Well done Donald! Patron of rugby? Glenwood should use John Allan as our patron of rugby….