Rugby Club Issue 53 | Page 109

aberbargoed “Club Captain and Committee Member Gavin Pritchard also took the time to speak with us, saying, “I can’t remember my first time to watch the seniors but I started playing at U16 level which was in 1995 and I followed the seniors a few years prior to this. I started playing for the seniors in 1999 and apart from 2005 I’ve played every season since. So I think this is my 14th senior season. I was attracted to watch my local side as many of my family members were already part of the club and I’d started playing myself. The most rewarding thing for me is the feeling of winning especially in a close encounter. But some of the friendships made over the years through the game comes a close second. At the moment the club has a good buzz with some new exciting youngsters joining the squad. We have a good winning mentality and after losing the league in the last game of the season last year we’re striving to go one better this year. The team has been steadily improving over the last 5 years and we’ve inherited boys who have a good training mentality. The new coaches this year have tweaked and added to the squad which has strengthened the team. Our biggest challenge I think would be down to our success because if we win the league other teams will come looking at our players trying to poach them. So keeping a good vibe and atmosphere within training, match days and post-match will be essential to not only keep our players but attract new younger players as us oldies need replacing. I would say that the ambitions of the club would be to firstly win this league and then to retain our players and compete in the next league. It would also be great to start looking at a youth side but with the strong footballing community and with bigger sides so close like Bargoed and Blackwood this is a tall order.” www.pitchero.com/clubs/aberbargoedrfc www.sportip.biz 109