Rugby in Uganda has long been a sport driven by passion, and this is evident in the “PW15 FOUNDATION, an age grade rugby initiative leading at the front. The program was started by Philip Wokorach, a Ugandan star rugby player, who himself began his journey in grassroots rugby.

Witnessing the transformative power of youth rugby first hand, Philip launched PW15 to nurture talent from an early age, emphasizing skill development, discipline, and team work. PW15 FOUNDATION provides opportunities for children to engage in rugby activities, creating a wide pool of talent. The event today saw 10 primary schools, each represented by 2 teams and totalling to 200 children present at the event.

When asked about the program, Dorothy Nekesa, Director of age grade and development rugby at the Rugby union, stated, “In Rugby, we are blessed to have programs like this for the young children. This is what we call foundational rugby. Programs like these have given birth to the best players, the best crop of players you see today. We have Philip Wokoroch, PW15 stands for Philip Wokorach, 15 is the number he plays, he started the foundation to be able to give back to rugby. To a sport that has made him who he is. He came from such programs, he played just like you see these kids playing, and right now, he has achieved a lot from the programs. Currently he plays in France.”

Dorothy Nekesa also states that, “He felt like he should find a way of giving back to the schools where he went to. He was a product of Mbuya army Primary school, and Kiswa Primary school. All these schools are part of what we have today. We also have a couple of players at the national level who play alongside Philip and are coaching in the schools, so the climax of the coaching which is an outreach, is what we saw today at the tournament we had.”

When asked about the participating and inclusion of girls into the sport, Dorothy reflected on her own background and stated, “I didn’t have a chance to play rugby as a child because we didn’t have rugby in the country. However, I’ve always played male dominated sports like martial arts and then rugby on the national team, so I know how girls are aggressive and very interested in such games and when you look at the level of competition between boys and girls, there schools that have girls dominating the sport rather than boys, so girls are very much active in the arena”

The Director ended the dialogue on a very inspiring and emotional curve by stating,

“Seeing young children, I’ve taught in tag rugby come up with such programs that are directly under my department is a very big blessing, because very many people start up something and you never get to see the fruits of your work but seeing the boys I coached when they were still little are the ones now coaching and initiating such programs is something quite big for me”

Engineering Solutions Uganda Ltd a key sponsor in the PW15 FOUNDATION represented by Marketing officer Lucy Suubi, further highlighted the importance of investing in age Grade Rugby for the nurturing of talent at the grassroots level to uplift them for the future. Lucy Suubi stated that the partnership between PW15 and Engineering Solutions limited was inspired by their managing directors, who are equally passionate about the sport and aim to support more age grade rugby activities, and hopefully grow more players like Philip Wokorach. Lucy also presented awards at the event today.

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