Sutton Coldfield
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Sutton Coldfield
RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
I joined Sutton Coldfield RFC as a 16-year-old, when a school friend and team
mate encouraged me to come down and play for the club’s under 17 team towards
the end of the school season. As a burgeoning number 8 in the school set up, I
made my debut for the club at flanker and the coaches soon decided to move
me into the centre. That year we went on to win the North Midlands U17 Cup,
beating the mighty Worcester in the final.
Thereafter, I went on to make my 1st XV debut as an 18-year-
old and had one of the most memorable seasons of my career,
before rugby took me to New Zealand and Loughborough
University. Along the way I picked up a couple of bad knocks
and had finished my serious playing career before I returned to
the club in 2011 to coach the colts as a volunteer.
I stepped into the role of Head of Coaching at the club at
the end of the 2016/17 season, having fulfilled a variety of roles
including Development Head Coach and Assistant Head coach
along the way. Throughout my adult life, Sutton Coldfield RFC
has been a second home through good times and bad, and I
have always taken tremendous pride in our sense of history,
family and community. Coaching can be a job of constant
change and movement between organisations but for me,
working at Sutton Coldfield has always been about building a
long-term project and a sustainable community club.
One of the major challenges we face, like most clubs, is
dwindling or unpredictable participation. Unsurprisingly,
during preseason and the warmer months we have excellent
numbers of players – winter is a very different story. We have
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been necessarily creative in our offering to combat this. Our
core ethos is to create an environment that truly feels like one
club: one club for players, supporters and social members
across the range of ages, genders, abilities and commitment
levels.
In recent years, we have developed and grown one of
the largest and most successful ladies’ sections in the region.
Winning their league two years on the bounce, the women
have become one of our largest membership bases and have
been a huge boost to the mood and general feel around the
club.
We are very proud of the ladies’ set up and this season this
has grown to include a development side and a girls’ group
who are learning the game. We welcome members from all
backgrounds, from experienced players to mums who have
been recruited from the side-lines while supporting the mini
and junior section on a Sunday morning.
We have also created different, inclusive opportunities
including this season’s launch of a ‘Casuals XV’, who play
on Friday evenings and train on a Monday night. This season