Chasing Blitzbok Glory – Lessons From SA’s Rugby World Champs

By Anzelle Botha, additional reporting by Thandile Nkoyi

Want to be a Springbok superstar? One study estimated that the chances of a rugby union club player making it to the professional level are just 0.08%. However, Impi Visser, who played as a forward for South Africa’s World Rugby Sevens Blitzbok team in 2021, believes the effort is worth the odds.

Visser faced many hurdles on his journey to donning South Africa’s green and gold jersey.  He highlights the value of family, community and especially school support as part of his success.

School rugby

Visser attended Hoërskool Ermelo (Ermelo High School) before moving to the University of Pretoria (UP), where he joined the UP Tuks.

He was part of the UP Tuks side that won the 2017 Varsity Cup and captained this team to another victory when they won the Seville 7s which took place in Spain at the end of January 2022.

“The South African schools set-up is the most professional in the world,” former Springboks and Bulls Coach Heyneke Meyer told RugbyPass, the ‘world’s largest fan rugby platform’.

Rugby World, a 60 year old English rugby magazine, ranked the best rugby schools in the world in 2023. In this list of twelve schools, South Africa’s Paarl Gimnasium outside Cape Town and Grey College in Bloemfontein were listed third and fourth, respectively.

Visser’s teammate in the Blitzboks, Ryan Oosthuizen, went to Paarl Gimnasium. The prestigious Western Cape school also produced national rugby treasures and legends in the making like Handré Pollard, Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers.

Paarl Gimnasium’s Director of rugby and former South African professional rugby player, Pieter Rossouw, believes the amount of support during school rugby games, the players’ investment, and the atmosphere on and off the field, prepares the boys for what’s to come at a professional level.

The African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” extends beyond the school and community’s role in providing a nurturing environment for sport talent. It’s about surrounding yourself with people who will stand by you when times get tough—because they inevitably will.

Visser credits the role of his supportive parents and siblings; his father Walter and his mother, Christelle, as well as the inspiration of his older brother Jan, as major contributors to his success.

The Back-up Plan

Visser knew from the start that he wanted a career as a professional sportsman and believed it was worth every challenge, tear, and sacrifice. For Visser, success lies in “doing your best today while striving to be a better person tomorrow”.

In the world of rugby, one’s career is ephemeral. One bad injury could end it all in a flash, and even the world-conquering Blitz-boys know this, and are prepared. Visser knows this, and believes one can enjoy Plan A more fully if one has something to fall back on when things don’t go as planned.

A Plan B will allow you to adapt, be resilient, and ensure that you’re never left without any options. The World Sevens Rugby Series-winning star has a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Pretoria.

Blitzbok forward Ryan Oosthuizen, Vissers’ teammate, recently graduated from the University of South Africa with an LLB degree.

Visser’s advice to young rugby players is to be consistent and prepared for when opportunity  comes knocking, while his teammate, Oosthuizen believes identifying your ‘why’ will keep the end goal well in sight when the going gets tough.

This article was originally published by Khulani!, a youth media project by the Department of Media and Communication of Nelson Mandela University, based in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape.