London French year , combined with a smaller numbers of new joiners this season due to the lack of potential job opportunities or uncertainties following an internship for EEA citizens .
We want to make sure that our players can still enjoy playing rugby in a friendly atmosphere though , and hence we are trying our best to give them most opportunities to have a good game and always keep their heads up before , during and after the games on Saturdays .
Our main area of focus will obviously be the recruitment in 2018 , as we are always keen to extend our family with players of various abilities , age and background . Some players have joined us with limited rugby experience but , as they benefited from the coaching and support of the most established players , they have improved and are now playing at their full potential .”
Youth
“ Our Mini and Youth section has been a key development of our club , we have seen some kids growing through the years and some of them are actually the new generation of those playing in the newly formed Vet team .
We like to emphasised the interaction between the senior players and the younger ones by having some senior players helping the coaches on Sunday mornings and giving them some guidance
in the most technical areas such as scrummages and tackling in order to promote good practice from an early age and to avoid injuries .”
Community
“ We are definitely a community club , but perhaps wider than the Barnes / Hammersmith community as our players live in various parts of London .
It means that we have to be fairly organised to get together on match day but , as our club sometimes substitutes for the family we are missing when we are abroad , the bond created amongst the players is very strong , even for those who are British , Aussies , Kiwis or Argentinians .”
Ambitions
“ Maintaining grassroots rugby is likely to be our biggest challenge in the next five years , and perhaps the biggest challenge for most clubs of our size around London , as we are competing with some other clubs who can put together five teams on a weekly basis with almost a professional admin / coaching structure and a large sponsors database .
We want to keep being approachable and have this community feel , while being able to give our players the opportunity to play ( while it is safe ) regardless of their rugby experience and knowing that they are not only joining a club , but also a larger community / family who has gathered players around a same passion for the last sixty years at London French RFC rugby .” www . rugbyclubmag . com 89