Paralysed star encourages Craven Week players

On Tuesday evening Victor Vermeulen spoke to nearly 400 schoolboy rugby players taking part in Craven Week and at the end of his inspirational address, they rose to applaud the young man who spends much of his life in a wheelchair.

Victor Vermeulen had the world at his feet – an academic star and a boy wonder, till a horrible accident in 1992 ended all that.

When Victor was at Jeppe High School for Boys in Johannesburg he was a top pupil and a top sportsman.

When he was 15, he played for South African Schools at soccer and Jono Sono wanted him top become a professional.

In his last two years at Jeppe he was a trialist for Craven Week but did not make it.

But then cricket was his love. He played for SA Schools for three years, played for Transvaal Under-19 for four years and for Transvaal A, Transvaal B and Transvaal Under-24. He played for SA Schools at Lord's. The world was his.

Then came two tragic events in 1992. First thugs killed his father and then, six months later, he was at a braai and dived into a river. The river was shallow and he has been a quadriplegic ever since.

Now he is an internationally-known motivational speaker of the most compelling kind.

Coca Cola, the sponsors of the Craven Week, brought him to Craven Week where,. on Tuesday evening after a day's rugby, the boys listened to him spellbound as he told them to live today as if there were no tomorrow and told them never to give up, never top be beaten.

He said: "Don't be a prisoner of your past but a pioneer of your future."