The Hertfordshire School of Rugby will be formally launched at Old Albanian RFC, The Woollam Playing Fields, Harpenden Road, St Albans on Monday, October 22nd 2007.
The timetable of events will be as follows:
10.00am Session starts
12 Noon Lunch break during which Weston Homes Plc (Stuart Thomas, Financial Dir) will present a to Hertfordshire RFU for the sponsorship of Herts Rugby throughout the county and especially the Hertfordshire School of Rugby.
Ben Skirving (England and Saracens) will be arriving at approx 12.45pm once he is clear of training and will be able to stay for most of the afternoon session where we could get a photo shoot.
1.00pm Afternoon session begins
3.00pm Session ends
The Hertfordshire School of Rugby, which started this summer at the University of Hertfordshire, will identify and develop the best young rugby players in the county. With our leading coaches, and based at the best facility in the county, the School of Rugby will help our top players between the ages of 12 and 16 develop their skills and achieve their rugby potential.
We have selected players for the School from this season’s Under 13s, Under 14s, Under 15s and Under 16s that have been nominated by either their club or school. How many? Probably around 20 in the older age groups, with perhaps a few more in the Under 13s. We are not selecting a team, though – these will be the best players in Hertfordshire, irrespective of their positions.
We are running the School of Rugby when there is the least possibility of clashing with other school and club activity. The sessions lasting the full day during school holidays – in August, over the Xmas holiday period and during the October and February half terms. We will expect players to commit themselves to attend the sessions.
As well as skills coaching, the players will benefit from lifestyle and nutritional advice and specialist input on conditioning and other key subjects. We are very fortunate to have the financial backing and expertise of Saracens RFC and Western Homes Plc to support the Hertfordshire School of Rugby in line with The RFU guidelines and support. We are delighted to have Ben Skirving, (Bishop’s Stortford, Herts RFU, Saracens and England) on board, with his pedigree we are sure that the individuals involved will be taking this very seriously.
Tim Bonnett, our county Welfare Officer, is co-ordinating the introduction of the School of Rugby and coaches can email Tim with any queries. Read more about Schools of Rugby by reading this document on the RFU website:
http://www.community-rugby.com/communityrugby/index.cfm/Fuseaction/Home.Download_Counter/StoryId/15629/downloadid/1241/filename/Schools_of_rugby.pdf
