Undergraduate / I arrived at O.R. Tambo airport in South Africa; background or story [2]

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MORE THAN A SPORT

The seatbelts signs have been switched off, tray tables, stowed and my seat is upright. Welcome to South Africa.
I arrived at O.R. Tambo airport in South Africa on the 8th of January 2009 not knowing what the future holds. My parents had decided that they would like me to attend high school overseas and their not so obvious choice was to send me to boarding school in Johannesburg, South Africa. I was a bit scared at first because as a thirteen year old boy, moving to another country alone was not at the top of my to-do list as I never expected to leave Nigeria for education until University moreover at that time, foreigners in South Africa were being attacked at the time because of xenophobia and this didn't do any good to my nerves but here I was and there was no turning back until holidays so I had to make sure I made the most of my opportunity.

From the moment I landed in South Africa one thing became clear to me, if there is one thing they love more than anything, it is most definitely Rugby. This sport was unheard of in Nigeria. Until I came to South Africa I didn't know that such a sport existed as the only sport I cared about was soccer. I was really intrigued by the passion the country had for the sport. Whenever the Springboks (the South African rugby team) were playing, the streets would be completely empty leaving the bars chanting with patriotism. In order to take part in the boarding house discussions, I desperately needed to understand the sport

I quickly learnt about rugby and started playing for the school. Even at the level of under fourteens the game was taken so seriously that on a winter Saturday morning, parents would be in school as early as 7:30 am to watch the St Stithians boys play. During the games it felt really good to see the stands full with such enthusiasm and laughter. Every hard tackle made crowd roar with excitement and when the St Stithians boys scored; the crowd went mental, signing and cheering until the game ended. This gave me a feeling of true accomplishment. The whole school watched the 1st team game and sang to support the team and when 1st team was losing the whole school would stand and sing until the game was over.

I have now spent five years in South Africa and this sport has become a part of me, a sport that had been completely unknown has become my favourite sport. The life lessons I have learnt are by far more important than rugby. Rugby has taught me how to tackle my fears the way I tackle my opponents, mercilessly. The only way to instil fear in the opponent is to hit them as hard as possible in the tackle and this is my approach to life.

I am now at the end of this journey in South Africa but the lessons I have learnt here will be with me for eternity, even though Rugby was a main factor during my stay here there are many more lessons that will help me as I go further in life. I know it is time to move on and my next destination is the United States of America.

The seatbelts signs have been switched on, tray tables, stowed and my seat is upright, but this time I'm taking off on a journey to America. I am taking off on a journey to I only hope I find the same passion and excitement for an American sport as I did for rugby.