During the month of November, Glasgow Warriors players have been participating in a brand new pilot scheme - Community Thursday.

In conjunction with local rugby development officers & SVQ rugby club community coaches, Warriors players have been visiting rugby clubs, schools and universities, working with boys, girls, men and women. The Warriors players and coaches dedicated every Thursday afternoon and evening to participate in the scheme and on only four dates they managed an amazing 26 visits, met over 500 participants and over 30 Warriors players were involved.

Colin Reid of Scottish Rugby’s community marketing dept said: “We have been overwhelmed with positive feedback. The Warriors players who were not on international duty visited schools and clubs to run training sessions and pass on their tips and skills to the youth teams. The local rugby development officers worked alongside our department and the Warriors to co-ordinate visits throughout the month and it was such as success that plans are underway to repeat the programme during the forthcoming RBS 6 Nations tournament.

“It is hoped that we can continue to develop the pro-team’s relationship with the wider community which will not only will assist with developing the game at grass roots level but will also benefit pro rugby in Glasgow in the longer term.

“A great example of this is Carrick Academy in South Ayrshire where they have a vibrant and successful rugby club and have attended a number of Scotland and Glasgow Warriors matches. We were therefore very keen to support them so Sam (Pinder) and Calvin (Howarth) went along to help at a session. Through our innovative 50% Cashback scheme the school then came to a Warriors match to cheer the boys on and at the same time raised enough money to buy drill tops for all their players.”

Some feedback from the schools that took part in the programme:

Knightswood Secondary School, Glasgow:
“Steve Swindall and Dan Turner were excellent with the team. They had an excellent rapport with them and took as much time as was needed to answer questions and sign autographs.”

Nether Robertland Primary School, Kilmarnock: Lee (Harrison) interacted well with the children throughout the whole session. He showed great enthusiasm which rubbed off on the kids. He took time to sign pictures and player cards”

Mauchline Primary School, East Ayrshire: “Colin (Gregor) jumped right into the session from the warm ups to the games at the end. The children and staff thoroughly enjoyed the session. He made sure to take time to sign cards and answer questions.”

Notre Dame High School, Inverclyde: “Scott (Forrest) was excellent. He was very professionally presented and his manner towards the kids was excellent. He happily got stuck in with the session and put across coaching information to the kids very well, he spent time afterwards answering questions and talking about his background in the game.

“If this is an example of how the community programme has gone then it will have been a huge success.”

This article was posted on 13-Dec-2005, 23:04 by Hugh Barrow.