Rugby Club ISSUE 83 | Page 97

Camberley The 2nd XV currently top the Zoo Sports Shield merit table and we regularly field a 3rd XV and a Vets team. We run an U21 team that generally plays during the holiday periods when we have players back from university. They won the Surrey Development Tier Cup at the end of last season.” 2018 “2018 has been an exceedingly successful year for the club. The highlight was the 1st XV competing in the RFU Intermediate Cup during the 2017-18 season and progressing to the final at Twickenham. A gloriously sunny day and over 1000 supporters saw them overwhelm their opponents in a showpiece running game that saw them emerge as 63-14 victors. We also had a major milestone in bringing to fruition the construction of a dedicated changing room for our ladies. Our clubhouse is based in a public park and we are constrained by the ground area we can use. Thanks to the co-operation of the local council and generous support of the London Marathon Charitable Trust, Surrey Heath Borough Council, Surrey County Council, Frimley Fuel Allotments Charity and fundraising by our membership, this project, which had been three years in the planning stage was finally achieved.” 2019 “Our main objective for the next year is to maintain our momentum. We need to make further improvements to our clubhouse to support the increased level of activity at the club, so a lot of effort will be directed at that. With the addition of the new ladies changing room we will be able to increase the attractiveness of the club to girls and ladies. There is currently a core of ladies and girls playing touch rugby and our objective is to increase numbers, so we can regularly put out full teams playing 15-a-side.” Youth “The Youths and Minis section is very buoyant. Our home, Watchetts Park, is full of youngsters every Sunday morning. Youth rugby is the future of the sport and forms the largest section of the rugby club. Every Sunday we have over 300 minis and youths, girls and boys from age 5 upwards playing at the club. The enthusiasm that the youngsters and their coaches (a mixture of parents and 1st XV squad members) bring to the game is refreshing to see. The club takes the nurturing of these players very seriously and has a structured programme of coaching to develop the players as they grow. The success of this programme can be seen by the number of home-grown players that have played through every age group at the club and ended up starring for the senior sides.” Community “We are a community club with a capital ‘C’. We cater for all sections of the local community in both a playing and social environment and are involved with all the local schools. The clubhouse welcomes visitors and is open Tuesdays to Thursdays, Fridays for special occasions and at weekends. The club is a family friendly place. Lydia Rise, our clubhouse manager, puts a lot of effort into getting the club to support local charity projects.” Challenges/Ambitions “One of the challenges the club will face in the coming years is maintaining the level of success of the last few years. The club has set up several sub-committees to streamline the operation of the club to ensure that this can be achieved. The main ambition for the club is to continue to provide a thriving environment for all club members to enjoy by improving our facilities. This will involve success on the field and a programme of social events for all. Fundraising is key, but I’m sure we can achieve this.” www.rugbyclubmag.com 97