DBA Africa Runs Skills Camp at Braeside

On Monday 12 October, our Rugby Academy took its youth rugby programme to Braeside in Lavington, Nairobi. Director of Academies Philip Wamae and academy coach Oduor Nyang were invited to run a half-day rugby camp for pupils in Year 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and Year 11, boys and girls together. The invitation came from the school, and it was a good fit for what DBA Africa does. The academy exists to develop rugby and the young athletes who play it at grassroots level, and a half-day camp with a wide spread of year groups is a direct way to do that. Everyone from the youngest pupils to the Year 11s took part in the same session, with the work pitched so that each age group could get something out of it.

Building Rugby Skills and Game Understanding

The session was planned around two things, skills and understanding of the game. Pupils worked on their technique in passing and on how the ball moves into space. Both are basics of rugby, and both are skills that improve quickly when players get coaching and repetition in a single session. Understanding space was the second half of that. A good pass only works if the player receiving it is somewhere useful, so the coaches spent time on where to run, when to move the ball, and how to find the gap in the defence.

Rugby is a team sport, and a large part of the camp was about playing as a team. Pupils practised moving the ball together, supporting the player in possession and working off each other instead of relying on one runner. For younger players this is often the first time they see why rugby is built the way it is. For the older ones, it adds to what they already know from school fixtures. The youth development we stand for.

Feedback from Parents and Students

The feedback from the children was positive. Many of them rated the session a 7 out of 10, which the coaches count as a good result for a first camp with a group that mixed ages, experience levels and, for some pupils, their first contact with rugby. One parent spoke about why organisations like DBA Africa matter for international schools. Their point was that DBA brings a different level of competition to the pupils and that playing against different levels in the country broadens a child's attitude and builds grit. That is the kind of experience pupils rarely get from training only within their own school.

More Partnerships, More Sessions and Camps

DBA Africa wants to build on this. The academy is looking to work with more schools, partners and organisations and to set up more sessions and camps like this one across Nairobi and beyond. If your school or organisation would like to host a rugby session or camp with DBA Africa Rugby Academy, get in touch with the academy team. This camp sits inside DBA Africa's wider goal of developing rugby in Kenya from the grassroots up. Young players need coaching, exposure to different standards of play, and a clear path to keep playing as they grow. Sessions like the one at Braeside give pupils a first step on that path, and they give schools another way to offer sport that stretches their pupils.

Thank you to Braeside for the invitation and to the pupils for the energy they brought to the session.