After a busy Spring term for the London Scottish community team all attentions turn to the Easter half term rugby camp.
From Tuesday 29th March – Thursday 31st March the Athletic Ground played host to over 25 young rugby players aged 6-16. With the clocks going forward and the summer weather fast approaching it was great to see so many youngsters out enjoying the game during the school holidays.
With such a busy spring term with the community team working in more than 10 schools over the entire term and a record attendance attending the February half term camp it was surprising that there weren't more numbers attending the Easter camp. However, with some schools having a 3 week break the majority of families see Easter as a time to replace London with a sun lounger and a beach!
The Easter camp is the last of the four camps that have ran during the 2015/16 season. By all account the camps have been a huge success throughout the season with more bookings than the previous season and a real focus on player development it's looking extremely positive ahead of next season.
The first camp in 2016/17 will be held during the summer break which will have a real 'pre season' focus, concentrating on fundamental skills as well as play fitness levels through a number of small sided conditioning games. London Scottish strength and conditioning coaches will also be on hand to put the players through their paces prior to the season starting in September.
With the Easter holidays now in full swing our CSR programme, Game Changers, sponsored by main club sponsor Deutsche Bank, takes a break for a couple of weeks before returning to the Athletic Ground on Monday 11th April 2016.
The programme consists of more than 20 young people aged 13 & 14 from a range of local secondary schools has run every Monday at London Scottish during the spring term. The programme looks to use rugby as a vehicle for change through a number of educational models that engage both club sponsors and local business as well as regular rugby session that look to further install the key values of the game.
The young people have enjoyed practicing their cookery skills at local restaurant and club sponsor Gaucho as well as sharpening their budgeting and CV skills with help of a number of Deustche Bank volunteers who have engaged with the programme over the past couple of weeks.
Local restaurant Cafe Mamma have also provided lunch for all Game Changers young people and staff over the course of the programme. We would like to thank Jose and all his staff for keeping us going, thank you for your continued support!
Mini's Write Up
The month of March saw all age groups attending their respective Middlesex festivals. First up on the Sunday 6th March, the U7s travelled to local club Teddington and the U8s travelled to Rosslyn Park to compete.
The week after it was the turn of both the London Scottish U9s and U10s to impress on Sunday 13th March. The U9s travelled to WASPS and the U10s to Ruislip.
To conclude a busy month of festivals the U11s travelled to Ealing and the U12s travelled to WASPS. For results and full match report please visit the minis page of the website www.londonscottish.com.
Sunday 10th April will see all age groups returning back to action at the Athletic Ground for a training session with members of the London Scottish 1st XV in preparation for fixtures the following weekend and indeed the long awaited end of season tour to Wales at the end of April.
The following week sees the U8s, U10s & U11s welcome Hampstead RFC to the Athletic Ground for a joint training session and friendly match, whilst the U7s, U9s and U12s travel to Barn Elms Sports Centre for the annual London French 5 Nations tournament in the hope that they will bring back some silverware for the trophy cabinet.
The end of the season will be marked by an end of season tour to Wales for all of the minis section, this of course including coaches and family members. We very much hope that everyone attending has a great time on tour, a big thank you to you all for your continued hard work and efforts throughout the season!
