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THE HISTORY OF ZONEWARRIOR®

ZoneWarrior® originated on the streets of Durban,
South Africa in October 1994. The originator was
Leon Franscois Potgieter and the training method /
game and court design is now Registered - No A98 /
0296 dd 20.02.98, Trademarked No. 96 / 13876
dd 26.07.96 & No. 97 / 01178 dd 27.01.97 and
Copyright in South Africa and the USA Library
of Congress - TXu 916 - 852 dd 15.08.99.

Developing The ZoneWarrior® Concept

In 1994, looking at the inroads the American sports of Basketball and Baseball, were making in Sports Marketing and Sports Development in South Africa, and looking at the professional and visionary way in which they were doing it,
I soon realised that Rugby Union, a traditional South
African sport, needed to seriously compete or lose market share. Another serious problem was, and still is in 2006,
the lack of basic technical skills and intelligent strategy in broken play at senior level, and throughout all levels of
South African Rugby.

It then became the aim of the originator, through the game of ZoneWarrior®, to have a holistic approach in developing the great game of Rugby Union in South Africa and worldwide. ZoneWarrior® focuses on communication, possession and ball retention skills, legally screening the ball, support play, as well as attacking and creating the space you need in Rugby Union. All you need is a reasonably hard, flat area 20m x 25m, to utilise / play a fully interactive training method / game that teaches you all the skills you need for the modern game of Rugby Union. This all in a competative yet recreational manner with no poles and equipment, only a ball and a minimum of 6 - 8 players.

DEVELOPING THE ZONEWARRIOR® COURT

The original court was designed in 1993 for soccer based game called ZoneBall® and consisted of 4 smaller circles placed concentrically inside a larger circle. (diagram 1)
This created a problem, as it was almost impossible to get
the circles in the correct position when physically marking
out the court.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

Keeping the round corners, straight sides were introduced, and the “SQUIRCULAR COURT” was born (diagram 2).
It was still a problem to get the 4 smaller circles in the correct positions however, and the back line, creating the back-zone was introduced, as well as the joining of the 2 score-zones to create the home-zones (diagram 3) for the soccer version. This has all subsequently become the standard 20m x 25m rectangular court it is now.