A busy April kicked off with the fourth and final rugby camp of the season.
The Athletic Ground played host to 35+ young rugby players aged 6-16 who attended the three day Easter rugby camp.
We caught up with Community Coach Ben Murphy on day three of the camp.
He said: “It was great to see yet another successful camp run during the half term break.
“Seeing so many kids full of enthusiasm playing rugby during their school holiday and being able to share my experience and play a part in their development as young and aspiring rugby players is something I believe priceless.”
The summer term started with another 11 schools signed up to receive rugby coaching during the first half term.
New Community Coach Neil McFarlane gave us a feel for his role in the community team.
“Having recently started at London Scottish it is great to see how proactive they are in the community.
“The community coaches work extremely hard and are extremely well received in all the schools that we work in – you only have to look as far as the reception that we get when we arrive at places to recognise this.
“It's great to feel that you are making a difference and having a positive impact on these kids’ lives.
“I’m looking forward to continuing the hard work throughout the off season in preparation for next season.”
Touch rugby continues to run as a joint club and community initiative and April saw the newly formed London Scottish Red Lions Touch team, pictured, play their first fixture in London Scottish colours against local side Old Emanuel.
Community Development Manager Ross Peacock said: “Touch rugby was started initially as a way to keep different sections of the club together during the off season.
“We have been working hard to create a touch team at the club for a number of seasons now and here it is, the London Scottish Red Lions.
“This season we kept touch going throughout the winter months which was gratefully received with numbers remaining steady throughout. Now that the warmer weather has arrived numbers have continued to grow so we thought that it was a good idea to organise our first fixture which was great!
“We are now looking to get more fixtures in the diary and also setting up a league so if you are interested and want to get involved, email ross.peacock@londonscottish.com for more information.”
Further to the community teams continuous delivery in the community London Scottish established yet another partnership with St Matthew's Academy in Blackheath.
The partnership was launched with two specialists Sevens sessions ran by Ross Peacock.
Since these sessions the relationship between club and school has continued to develop with three players being earmarked to represent the London Scottish Academy in future years. Ongoing community delivery at the school will continue.
The community programme is now beginning to build and prepare ahead of next season.
Over the summer months the community team will be visiting a number of local sports and community fairs with the view to raise awareness of all activity at the club and to help recruit additional mini and junior players to play at the club.
Ross Peacock said: “The off season is hugely important to all sections of the club and we want to make sure that as many people as possible join the Club on our Incredible Journey.
“During the summer months we will be attending a number of local community fairs and I'd hope to see both old and new faces at these events. We will be offering lots of different activities at these events so if you are in the area please come and say hi and join in the fun.”
For more information on the upcoming summer events email Ross at ross.peacock@londonscottish.com.
