ELLON
Youth
“There’s a great mood here in the Youth and Junior
section. The Club here is exploding with fantastic
coaches who are all CC Level 1 or 2 qualified
with others going for CC Level 3, player numbers
growing (over 230) and with the excellent work by
our Development Officer, Ross Finlay, the coaches
are all progressing in the right direction for player
centred training sessions.
The skill levels are increasing and performances
improving. It is not all about the win in our junior/
youth sections, but about improving and becoming
the best you can be. We pride ourselves on the
U18 set up we have, with the best coach allocated
to this area, our Development Officer Ross Finlay.
They compete in the National U18 League,
travelling all over Scotland to play the best teams
in the country.”
Progression
“As a club we
develop some
outstanding
young players.”
“Youth development is what Ellon Rugby is
all about. We recently became the 6th club
in Scotland to achieve the Positive Coaching
Scotland Accreditation. As a club we develop some
outstanding young players. The ideal set up would
be f or these players to slot directly into the first and
second team at home in Ellon, however we are
finding it hard to retain these outstanding players.
At 18 a lot of them move off to University, which
means we have them for a few games a year.”
Senior
“While the senior section has been in a period
of transition, between the National Leagues and
local leagues, they have struggled with some
player retention. Players have moved on to other
local sides in a higher league and with finances in
place to pay players. From this as a club we need
to develop the players we have and work hard with
the youth section.
We now have a First and a Second team who this
season will both compete well in their respective
leagues for promotion. Our Girls section got up
and running two years ago and now has a full U18
team and a group of sponsors for next season.
This is an area of growth for Scotland and Ellon
want to be a huge part of that.”
Ladies
Women’s rugby is one of the fastest growing sports
in the country and England’s success will only
help. Between 1988 and 2008 around 13,000 extra
players took up the game. Ellon is fully committed
to helping the game develop as Gareth explained,
saying, “Our Girls section got up and running two
years ago and now has a full U18 team and a
group of sponsors for next season. This is an area
of growth for Scotland and Ellon want to be a huge
part of that.”
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ISSUE 49