Dear Moms, Dads, Relatives, Educators and Business Owners!

I find it uncanny how children naturally want to identify with a sporting team, even from as young as 3 years. Take my kids for instance. They have no clue about the game of rugby (bit like their mom actually), but they are already serious Sharks and Springbok supporters with all the flags, shirts, balls and whatever paraphernalia they have managed to con my husband into buying.

When there is a rugby game on television, they want to know if their team is playing, and if so, are they winning?

My son nagged us for a month about going to see a Sharks game. We finally managed to find an afternoon Currie Cup game and the whole family including cousins, aunts, uncles and friends and whoever else could fit in the Microbus, descended on ABSA stadium covered from head to toe in supporters gear.

After our picnic in the car park (on the hockey field) we made our way to our carefully chosen seats - right at the bottom next to the field, and the entrance, with plenty of room for kids to walk up and down without annoying anyone!

The kids (and adult kids) had a fantastic time cheering, shouting, running up and down, frantically waving flags and hiding from the mascot, “Sharky” and his water pistol! (I dredged up some old and rather distasteful school war cry songs). They had no clue as to what was going on in the game (actually neither did I), but kept asking the score to make sure their team was winning.

After the game, the kids played their own version of rugby whilst the adults indulged in a lot of cheese and wine. My son's version of rugby is to run with the ball under his arm and when someone gets too close, he lies on the ball and refuses to get off. He knows how to support a team but has yet to learn how to play in a team!

My husband is looking forward to the future when my son will play cricket and rugby for his school. I can picture a comical scene rather similar to those from the book "Spud". The dad sitting in the back of an old clapped out Microbus shouting and cheering whilst cooking boerewors and drinking beer.

Families, go forth and support ye old local team!

Cara
Editor

PS. Have a wonderful celebration on National Women's Day - Thursday 9 August 2007.

PPS. This month we have made a change to the newsletter and we have divided it into separate regions to click onto to make it easier for you to read the details of each event.

Don’t miss the Dinosaur Encounter at Gold Reef City brought to you by London’s natural history museum!