Growing the game through Grass Roots Training Sessions
The Eastern Region Royal Navy Rugby Union Community Coach, Dave Wakefield, put 36 male and female members of the Royal Marines School of Music through an enjoyable and varied rugby coaching programme which took place on Thursday 10 Nov 16. The event took place on the 3G pitch at HMS Temeraire and was facilitated by a number of experienced Royal Navy Rugby coaches.
Dave was lucky to acquire the services of the Royal Navy Rugby Union Women’s Head Coach, WO George Hillan who took the ladies through a session that included passing, running and evasion skills. They all impressed with their willingness to learn and 'never say die' attitude. George has worked the ladies on a number of occasions in the past and is building a good rugby relationship with them, upping the intensity with each session.
The lads were split into two groups and put through their passes by two more of the experienced regional coaches, CPO John Manners who is the HMS Sultan Head Coach and LH Pony Moore who coaches the Eastern Region Senior team as well as the RN Sharks (the RNRU 7s team) and who recently led the Eastern Region on a successful trip to Holland at the beginning of the month. Again, both coaches are regular volunteers and have assisted in the ‘Grass Roots’ programme in the past and were happy to give up their time again.
John put the lads through a session that incorporated the ‘Cleaning out at the Breakdown’ and Pony had them working on ‘Taking the Ball into Contact’. Both groups worked hard on their respective skills before changing over and finishing off with a controlled game that allowed them to put into practice the new skills they had learnt.
The Grass Roots programme in the Eastern Region moves on to HMS Sultan Wed 23 November, followed by a visit to HMS Heron Wed 7 December. In the West Country, the next session takes place at HMS Drake Wed 23 November, and will be at HMS Seahawk on Thu 1 December. So if there are any coaches out there interested in developing their skills, or any budding players who would like to join in, please contact Dave Wakefield – Eastern Region CRC, rnru-crc-e@hotmail.com or Spider Kelly – Western Region CRC, rnru-crc-w@hotmail.com.
The RNRU would like to thank George, John and Pony for their contributions to the coaching session delivered to the Royal Marines School of Music.
Words by Dave Wakefield
Images by Royal Navy Rugby Union / © Dave Wakefield