Archive for October, 2009

Susan Wright and Kim Pople are two Moms who decided that our kids need real, meaningful, South African heroes to look up to – not foreign sportspeople and cartoon characters! They launched BIG-BALL Rugby Trading Cards to bring this vision to life

We’re the moms in the picture.  Kim is in pink and Susan in red.

It was sparked by the two of us, just chatting in the car park about how rampant school crazes get. ‘The kids don’t seem to be able to get enough’. (A seed was planted.)

A few months later…kids eagerly poring over and excitedly trading player cards…being able to name numerous foreign players and clubs…the Collectables Virus had taken hold. ‘We all need heroes to look up to’, we agreed. But…something didn’t feel right, ‘Where are our local heroes?’ we wondered. (What if…?)

So…we put together an exciting plan to make South African heroes accessible. To bring our idea and plans to life, BIG-BALL Rugby Trading Cards were born! We launched our Collection on 1 September and it is available until December 2009 – or until stock lasts! It’s an exciting brand new card collection and is the only one that celebrates South African sportspeople. The BIG-BALL Collection of over 150 Rugby trading cards features rugby players from 5 of South Africa’s top provincial Rugby Unions – Blue Bulls, Cheetahs, Golden Lions, Sharks and WP Rugby.

Our crazy ambition? To use the Collectables Virus to:
- make excellence a part of everyday life
- make South Africa’s Heroes easily accessible
- provide role models that are meaningful
- give Dads something they know about to share with their kids
- let kids have ‘Good Clean Fun’

On the front of each card is an action photo of the player with gold star ratings in recognition of being chosen to play for South Africa. On the back are the player’s stats – how tall he is, how much he weighs, what school he went to, when and where he was born and how many times he has played for his Province and his Country. (Everyday people who through motivation, hard work, opportunity and a measure of talent, have excelled in their chosen field.)

There is also a binder to keep the treasure safe and to share, swop and enjoy the cards. Plus, every pack stands the chance of containing a special Golden Token – one of 5 which will win the holders the signed rugby jersey of the player of their choice. And, last but not least, we have developed an interactive, educational website that features all of the cards and incorporates a quiz to test and keep track of everyone’s rugby knowledge – www.bigballcards.com

Our BIG-BALL Rugby Trading Cards are available from CNA, selected Spar, Pick n Pay, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Exclusive Books stores and the Rugby Union shops. We know the kids will love our cards – what’s not to love! (Everyone we have connected with from the Rugby Unions, to the Designers, Printers, Distributors and Retailers are as excited about this project as we are.)

But, as important to us, is that people understand how it started and why we did it because then, next time you buy a loaf of bread, a litre of milk and a couple of packs of BIG-BALL Rugby Trading cards, you can know that you are actually buying so much more!

Rugby. Love it, Live it

Susan and Kim

(The two Moms in the car park with the crazy idea, who started it all.)

We have recently had a few weeks of major Jewish Holydays and this has made me think more about how active we are as a family in our religion.

I deeply admire the women who bring their two or three month old babies to service every week as personally, I just couldn’t do it.  Taking Aaron out at that age freaked me out too much and I was also too anxious that he would cry and disturb everyone else.

We got into the habit of not attending regular services and now I wonder if I made a mistake.  We took Aaron to the Rosh Hashanah (New Year) service this year and he was mostly ok, he wanted to be with his daddy and after a while got a bit bored and they landed up playing in the playground.  Aaron did get a kick out of the chocolate the Rabbi handed out to all the kids at the end though.  The next day we took him again and I spent most of the service playing outside with him.

I feel on the one hand that perhaps we should have exposed him earlier on to the concept of going to shul but on the other hand I feel confident that the more we go from now on the more he will come to enjoy going with us.

I think this is the biggest change I will make this year, I will endeavor to take my whole family to the Friday night service at least two or three times a month.  It can only benefit all of us and hopefully my little boy will grow up loving his religion and seeing it as something to be enjoyed with the whole family.

How do  other families, of any religion,  involve their little ones in religious practices?  I would love to hear about your experiences or your views on the matter.