Page 6 - GRFC_NEWS

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MINI & JUNIOR SECTION
FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
Gwernyfed RFC’s Mini & Junior Chairman David Roberts reports on a curtailed season and looks forward to the next...
It's no surprise to anyone that the Minis and Junior season ended abruptly and without the usual celebration of the past season.
The current social distancing makes the Minis festival of last September feel a life time ago, 3 fields crammed with players, coaches, parents and supporters all enjoying a sport that, in this club especially, has social and community values in its core. This was reflected not only by the enjoyment of those who attended but the effort in those organising, coordinating, marshalling, parking and refereeing. The day included a couple of mammoth refereeing sessions from volunteers, with a notable mention required for Geraint Skyrme who seemed to referee from Dawn to Dusk.
In the shortened season, without the usual April tournaments, there was less chance of silverware, . However, the U13s got in early with a runners up spot in the September Llanidloes tournament with the U15s winning the plate for the Blues region on the iconic Arms Park. The u15s also had a strong showing with 10 players making up the district team plus the Captain and Vice Captain coming from the Green, Whites & Blacks.
Although the Covid 19 virus has been cruel to the general public, its has also unfortunately taken away many experiences expected by players, not just the chance of trophies but highlights of tours, last games for age groups and club. However, I'm sure when we get back to some resemblance of normality there will be
new memories to be made. Gwernyfed Minis and Juniors will make up for lost times and we'll be hearing the laughter and cheers coming from the fields again soon.
Let me take this chance to thank everyone who volunteered to make this unforgettable season as successful as it has been. A massive thanks to coaches, committee, First aiders, parents, players and all who've contributed, personally I can't wait to see the Green, White and Black colours covering the pitches again soon.
Dai Roberts
Chairman, Mini & Junior Section
DEVELOPING ACTIVE CHILDREN
BRONNIE’S SCHOOL INITIATIVE
The start of 2020, post-Christmas break, saw the introduction of the primary school programme in Gwernyfed’s surrounding schools. Each primary school throughout Gwernyfed’s cluster area was given the opportunity to sign up for a 12-week block that would involve me going into the schools and delivering tag rugby sessions to all pupils from years 3-6.
There was a great uptake from all schools and it saw every pupil in the Gwernyfed catchment area having the opportunity to take part in rugby from the comfort of their own school environment. The sessions were superb and saw great engagement throughout the area - leading to a number of requests from teachers and parents wanting more information about the club, with interest to sign more children up. The sessions were aimed at both boys and girls with two events being planned for the summer term to bring all schools together at a tag rugby festival. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic these events have been postponed until further notice but as soon as it is safe to do
so I am keen to get back into schools and get the rugby bug back amongst our younger community. As well as primary school delivery, there has been delivery throughout Gwernyfed High School for both boys and girls. These sessions have been both curricular and extracurricular, trying to offer as many rugby opportunities as possible for the youngsters in our area. The school had entered 2 teams into this coming URDD 7s competition, as well as a number of local events but due to COVID-19 these had to be cancelled. As well as involving pupils with the playing side of the game there was also a competition launched in school to design a poster for an international game of choice in order to win a pair of Cardiff Blues tickets. This worked well in engaging the non- playing audience by giving them a different way to interact with the sport.
Through school delivery, the link between girls and the Red Kites Hub was a keen focus post- Christmas. The volume of interest from girls across all ages, from year 3-11, was great and saw a huge uptake for the Red Kites School’s
Festival due to be played in April. This will be rearranged.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus, the Cardiff Blues Community Foundation had been working hard keeping kids engaged with rugby from home until all staff were placed on Furlough in April. The team and I put together skills challenges and some fun workbooks, free to download, to help parents with keeping their children entertained at home. These had a great impact across the region and are still available to download for anyone looking for something for their rugby loving kids to do! Since being placed on furlough, there have been a number of CPDs and online workshops put in place to keep me up to date with the procedures moving forward in regard to COVID 19, both from World Rugby and the WRU. I look forward to being able to get back into the community, when safe to do so, to start getting everyone back into rugby, and of course back to Gwernyfed RFC and the Red Kites.
Bronnie Jones Blues Officer
GRFC News