The twenty second version of the Rutsindura Memorial Volleyball Match is about to return with a renewed emphasis on figuring out and growing the subsequent technology of volleyball expertise, as organisers see the competitors as an necessary platform for senior golf equipment to scout gamers forward of the 2026/27 season.
Held yearly in honour of the late Alphonse Rutsindura, a former trainer at Petit Séminaire Virgo Fidelis in Butare, the match has grown into considered one of Rwanda’s most revered volleyball competitions.
Through the years, the match has attracted prime males’s and girls’s golf equipment, whereas the earlier version launched further classes, together with ladies’ secondary college groups.
This yr’s match has drawn greater than 30 groups from secondary faculties and universities. Qualifying matches will run from Could 9 to 16, whereas the principle competitors is scheduled for Could 22–24.
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Match director Alphonse Nsengiyumva mentioned the competitors has persistently served as a stepping stone for younger gamers, a lot of whom have gone on to function for top-flight golf equipment.
He defined that organisers at the moment are inserting higher emphasis on creating alternatives for rising gamers to showcase their expertise and appeal to curiosity from elite groups.
“Aside from the varsity league, which has began providing alternatives to younger gamers who might not have discovered possibilities in huge golf equipment like REG and APR, we additionally wish to contribute by giving the youthful technology a platform to show their skills. Robust performances in entrance of those golf equipment can open doorways for recruitment,” he mentioned.
Greater than 1,000 gamers from completely different divisions are anticipated to participate within the competitors. Classes embrace first division groups (girls and boys), college groups (boys), youth groups (girls and boys), normal division groups (boys), intermediate groups (boys), seaside volleyball classes (junior and intermediate), and first college groups (girls and boys).
Among the many prime golf equipment which have already confirmed participation are Rwanda Income Authority (RRA) Ladies VC, Rwanda Vitality Group (REG), Gisagara VC males’s group, and APR VC males’s and girls’s groups. Registration for added groups stays open.
Who was Alphonse Rutsindura?
Alphonse Rutsindura was born in 1958 in Ndora Sector, Gisagara District. He accomplished his secondary schooling at Petit Séminaire Karubanda earlier than pursuing larger research on the Nationwide Pedagogical Institute (IPN) in Butare.
He later served as a music and Latin trainer at Petit Séminaire Virgo Fidelis and was actively concerned in volleyball as each a referee and coach of the college group between 1983 and 1994. Rutsindura additionally coached Rwanda’s nationwide girls’s volleyball group from 1988 to 1990.
As well as, he served as Vice President of the Rwanda Volleyball Federation (FRVB) and coached Rayon Sports activities VC in 1990.
Rutsindura was killed throughout the 1994 Genocide in opposition to the Tutsi alongside his spouse, Verena Mukarubayiza, and their youngsters. Solely considered one of their youngsters survived.
