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Gibraltar Dragons RFU level 1Coaching course.
Junior rugby in Gibraltar has committed itself to making sure young rugby players receive the best and latest coaching techniques in what can only be described as a gruelling weekend.
Ten people stood tall and paid to learn how to coach, not just children, but the first steps to current rugby coaching. The new RFU coaching standards mean there is no more Level 1 to 3 junior level coach, before beginning level 1 senior coaching. It has been re-formatted totally so level 1 is now for all age groups and many of the techniques and drills we covered are used by premiership rugby clubs as well as junior rugby.
Matt Sherratt level 4 coach , as well as being part of the RFU team, is an academy coach and co-ordinator at Worcester Warriors and his sights are set firmly on being first team coach at Worcester currently held by Mike Ruddock ex Welsh team coach who he says has inspired him to be the best.
Matt certainly inspired and enthused the guys he took this weekend. We consisted of people who knew nothing about rugby but “my son takes part and I want to help” to guys who have been involved in rugby in many forms and guises to a 17yo who wanted to play rugby when he was 11, but had to go to Marbella to do it because it was never offered here in Gibraltar, but now firmly wants to give something back to a game which he loves and believes should have been here in Gibraltar on a junior level a long, long time ago. Infact Matt was so impressed with Michael Massey, one of the rising stars of Gibraltar Rugby who has also been invited to take part in the Andalucian selection for his age group in the past, that he offered him to spend a week in Worcester training with there academy squad, though quick to point out it was only a training week and not a trial as such, it was a great accolade to his talent and Gibraltar and of course Marbella who developed him as a youth.
` Matt also made the point that he had never had ten coaches from one club before and never had ten people who put so much commitment into a course, a fact which was made more difficult with the course literature not having arrived even now and we had to work blind, however all ten guys not only passed but with merit.
Of course this weekend could not have gone ahead without the help of the Gibraltar government and a big, big thank you to the Hon minister of sport Edwin Reyes who has taken a keen interest in rugby and offered to help wherever possible on behalf of the Government. The Management, Sports development unit and staff of Victoria stadium whom provided us with the facilities and visual equipment, and have contributed to the costs of what was a very expensive weekend, Victor Chandlers International who provided the accommodation for Matt at one of there company flats overlooking the Stadium, making his job of getting there much easier
Of course the final thanks go to the following people who have nurtured, developed and committed themselves to Junior rugby here in Gibraltar, I don’t think you will know who they are but the junior rugby players of Gibraltar certainly do and what can be a better CV for any coach than in the future one of them turns around and says if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be playing rugby, whether he be a club player or a player who makes the grade, so I thank the following people for there commitment and apologies to one guy who really wanted to be there but his wife is due to give birth and couldn’t make it.
The following people took and passed the course.
Chris, Jacko, Herbie, Dino, Craig, Allan, Taff, Mikey , Patrick and Neil who took all the pictures which appear on Gibraltar Dragons face book page of the weekend and everyone is invited to view them, and of course the biggest thanks go to Matt who showed us what is possible, what we can achieve and more importantly to believe we are good enough, and a final mention to David Jacobs who was one of the first guys to put his name down but due to imminent birth of his twins had to step down, we wish them all well and look forward to the newest rugby players be it girls or boys soon being part of Gibraltar Dragons Rugby as is there brother Killian.
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