U12s School Tournament

We had a great time at Aylesbury RFC on Tuesday 8th November where we ran an U12s Schools Tournament. There were 60 girls playing Rugby, many for the first time.

Led by Peter Tebbutt, we have started organising School Tournaments to try and help grow the girls game. The biggest obstacle in growing girls Rugby is the fact that most girls do not get a chance to try it in the first place. Our view is that the best way to introduce this wonderful game to girls is through their schools. We are therefore trying to support any schools who want to offer girls the chance to play Rugby. These tournaments give the girls a chance to come together with lots of other girls to play some Rugby matches and enjoy the competitive side. It is also a great chance for the teachers to make contacts with other schools and hopefully help support each other with Rugby at their schools.

Lastly, well done to all of the girls for getting involved and making the whole day worthwhile.

As we have done before, we gave all of the girls a Rugby ball to take home with them.

The schools attending were: Akeley Wood, High Wycombe School, St Helens School, Ashlyns and Lord Williams School.

I would like to thank Peter for all of his hard work in arranging these events and all of the teachers for the great work they are doing in their schools. Getting a Rugby team up and going in a school takes some real dedication, so thank you for providing this opportunity to all of the players.

Here is feedback from some of the teachers -

• "The girls loved playing and were so excited to be able to take a ball home too."

• "All the girls had such a good time and were delighted with the ball. Thank you as well to the U16 referees!"

• "Thank you so much for organising – a hugely successful day and great to see so many young girls playing!"

We are next looking to do an U14s School Tournament in April and we look forward to seeing everyone there.