“At his funeral, I stood up and said I would keep his legacy alive, but my idea was to buy the Yellow Cap from his wife.
“Then SA Deaf Rugby came along and said you want to keep his legacy, he was our vice-president, and now we have this vacant position, would you put your hand up, and don’t worry, it’s not a lot of work.
“So, I put my hand up and I got voted in, needless to say, it’s a lot of work,” she said, smiling.
Driven to make a difference and improve not only the quality of the sport but also the perception that people have about deaf rugby, Terras said the Eastern Cape Deaf Rugby community was in dire need of volunteers and training equipment.
“We are desperate for old training kits. We look after a school in the Eastern Cape called Reuben Birin School for Hearing Impaired [in Bethelsdorp].
“We go there once a week to coach the boys and girls, but one of the biggest problems is that most of them do not have shoes and they don’t have proper training gear.
“They are often in their school uniform, so it’s quite a mission.
“Now we are on a call for all kids or rugby players but even any sportsmen or sportswomen to donate any old shorts, shoes, socks, and whatever they can donate, so that these boys and girls can stop training in their school uniforms.
“We have two drop-off points, Nautical Sports in Newton Park, and by the end of the week, we will also have a box at the Newton Park SPAR.
“We are also calling for players, so anyone who is deaf and has played any sport, we need to change the communication in the fact that people think deaf rugby is for people who cannot hear at all, that is incorrect.
Gqeberha-born Terras appointed vice-chair of World Deaf Rugby
Former Collegiate pupil aims to improve quality of the sport and to change perceptions
Image: SUPPLIED
Gqeberha-born former Collegiate High pupil Lauren Terras is making big waves in the deaf rugby community, not only nationally but internationally as well.
Terras, who is the vice-president of SA Deaf Rugby, has been appointed as vice-chair of World Deaf Rugby and aims to bring a positive change to the sport.
After early exposure to soccer in her youth, Terras became involved in rugby later in life and it has become a passion.
“My dad was a goalkeeper for Moroka Swallows,” Terras said.
“So, I come from a soccer family. I got involved in sports because of my dad, who played for them in 1976.
“When I got involved in rugby, I worked as a consultant for the Springboks from 2012-2015. I worked on the Springboks, Blitzboks and Currie Cup.
“I later worked for the Varsity Cup, and from there I got into Varsity football, athletics, netball, etc.
“There was a journalist who had a website called the Yellow Cap, and he was also a video editor at SuperSport. He passed away just at the beginning of Covid-19.
Image: SUPPLIED
“At his funeral, I stood up and said I would keep his legacy alive, but my idea was to buy the Yellow Cap from his wife.
“Then SA Deaf Rugby came along and said you want to keep his legacy, he was our vice-president, and now we have this vacant position, would you put your hand up, and don’t worry, it’s not a lot of work.
“So, I put my hand up and I got voted in, needless to say, it’s a lot of work,” she said, smiling.
Driven to make a difference and improve not only the quality of the sport but also the perception that people have about deaf rugby, Terras said the Eastern Cape Deaf Rugby community was in dire need of volunteers and training equipment.
“We are desperate for old training kits. We look after a school in the Eastern Cape called Reuben Birin School for Hearing Impaired [in Bethelsdorp].
“We go there once a week to coach the boys and girls, but one of the biggest problems is that most of them do not have shoes and they don’t have proper training gear.
“They are often in their school uniform, so it’s quite a mission.
“Now we are on a call for all kids or rugby players but even any sportsmen or sportswomen to donate any old shorts, shoes, socks, and whatever they can donate, so that these boys and girls can stop training in their school uniforms.
“We have two drop-off points, Nautical Sports in Newton Park, and by the end of the week, we will also have a box at the Newton Park SPAR.
“We are also calling for players, so anyone who is deaf and has played any sport, we need to change the communication in the fact that people think deaf rugby is for people who cannot hear at all, that is incorrect.
“So, there are 40 decibels to play deaf rugby, which is the minimum requirement by World Rugby. So people who are hard of hearing can also play deaf rugby.
“We have the Japan World Cup in Tokyo from October 30 to November 4 2026.
“This will be the second time that we are going. In 2023, we went to Argentina.
“The event is known as the World Deaf Rugby Sevens Championships, and we were placed fourth in 2023.
“In terms of preparation for the event, we have national trials in November in Limpopo.
“Early next year, we’ll host the second round of nationals in Gqeberha, where we will select the final group of players who’ll be going to the World Deaf Rugby Sevens Championships.
“We will be playing against Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, England, Wales, Japan, Hong Kong and Argentina.”
Terras said their biggest issue was funding and pleaded with corporates, personal funders or lovers of rugby who could help get the players to the World Cup to assist.
Anyone able to assist can visit Facebook/Eastern Cape Deaf Rugby Association or email ecdra.gqeberha@gmail.com
The Herald
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