48 senior boys and 6 staff caught the ferry for Rothesay rugby camp last Monday in order to undergo some extra training before the season starts in September. Many of the boys had been active over the holiday period under the watchful eye of FP’s Jamie Macintyre and Graeme Williams. However, the intensity of the week would be a lot greater than their previous outings.


This was the school’s 25th visit to the Isle of Bute. Having stayed in numerous church and scout halls over the years it was the 5 star accommodation of the Bute Shinty Club that was going to be home for the week. Mr and Mrs James provided an excellent level of catering which ensured that the boys had plenty of energy for the training throughout the week.


Monday afternoon saw a gentle introduction on how to pass the ball. It’s amazing how much boys forget in four months, followed by some 2-minute runs. This should have been the easiest day for the sixth form to beat the staff superstars at heady-volleyball in the pool, but they didn’t even come close.


Tuesday saw the arrival of various guests. Kenny Murray, the Regional Development Officer and Grant Talbot, on his first overseas outing as the Hawks Development Officer led a defensive session. The afternoon included three twenty minute games mixing and matching all the players. Again the staff dominated in the heady-volleyball with their team bolstered by the arrival of Fergus Wallace. Mr Mair also arrived to keep an eye on proceedings.


Traditionally, Wednesday has been the farmer’s show in Rothesay and we have had to look for an alternative venue to do our training. Although there was no farmer’s show this year, the venue stayed the same, namely, Ettrick Bay. With high tide arriving early afternoon, training was done and dusted before our picnic on the beach. Mr. Mair kindly paid for the staff’s tea and ice cream in the nearby café. The most gruelling part of the day was the five and a half mile run back to the swimming pool. Struan Gray covered the distance in just less than 35 minutes. However, the most pleasing thing to see was that 46 of the 48 boys finished, the other 2 being picked up by the broom wagon due to previous injuries. The staff were involved in various jobs and were unable to field a full team for the heady-volleyball and so the teams were split in forwards against backs. The backs ran away with the first set and were on course to win the second when the wheels came off and allowed the forwards back into it. The forwards went on to win the decisive third set.


Thursday morning was spent working on our unit skills before the afternoon games. The matches showed that the boys were able to put into practice what they had learnt during the week and the commitment of all players was excellent. Again the staff won in the pool.


Due to the intensity of the matches on Thursday, the Serpentine greeted only 40 of the boys on Friday morning. This was a much shorter run than the one on Wednesday, but just as gruelling due to its very sharp incline at the beginning. The staff, as expected won the heady-volleyball, to record a 4-0 victory Over the years I think they have lost just one day about 3 or 4 years ago but they still managed to win the series 4-1 by the end of the week. Congratulations must go to Mr. Barrett, Mr.Broadbent, Mr. Brown, Mr. FitzGerald, Mr. Robertson and non playing captain Mr. Forsyth on maintaining this excellent record.


The week has left Mr. Brown with a few headaches with regard to selection as many of the boys have put their hat into the ring to be included in the 1st XV squad this year due to their performances at Rothesay. The weather forecast wasn’t great but luckily it stayed dry when we were training. With just under two weeks until the first game, captain Scott Loudon knows that there are still a few things to work on, but we are going in the right direction.

This article was posted on 20-Aug-2007, 07:31 by Hugh Barrow.