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Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
RUGBY star, Neil Mawere, will have to wait a bit longer before realising his dream to play in the United States.

The former Old Georgians player was offered a bursary at Wits University early last year.

However, the Covid-19 outbreak halted his plans.

At the Johannesburg institution, Mawere was supposed to get some game time before he could move to the United States where an unnamed club wanted to sign him.

But, both the scholarship at Wits, and the proposed move to the United States, haven’t materialised.

However, the 2018 Old Georgians Player of the Year is not losing hope.

Instead, he is training hard at home to keep himself in shape.

He has established a retail business, a real estate venture and he has also ventured into modelling.

“Things are not normal at the moment, this is the time to look at the positives and what one can do to flush out the bad thoughts,’’ he said.

“Sport is a long way from returning and we have to find some way to wait for the right time.

“Rugby is my game and I know it will be back one day and we will get to enjoy the sport as we have done before.’’

He said he wasn’t going to be buried by the challenges.

“But, at the moment, there are several opportunities which were coming my way, but appear to have been lost.

“Life has to go on and I have to maintain my shape, which I have worked on for years. I have decided to look at it in the positive. I am a personal trainer and I also train hard to be myself.

“But, after training, I just saw it fit to find some comfort doing something which I also enjoy.

“I have set up some retail, and real estate businesses and, for the past two months, I have also ventured into modelling.

“This is what keeps me going.

“I know life will be back to normal eventually, and I still have age on my side and going to play in either South Africa, or the USA, is still very much possible.”

The 21-year-old was in the Young Sables squad in 2019.