Joining the Vees ... so many benefits

Two years ago my elder son John joined the local athletics club, however my younger lad James was a bit young at 7 years old. But he didn’t want to be left out and asked to join a sports club too. James can be somewhat boisterous and I’d been a rugby player back in the day so we thought we’d see what the local mini-rugby scene was like…

I didn’t know any of the clubs, so I went online to find out a bit more. I dropped a message to the contacts given on each of the three local clubs websites.

The Vees were the only ones to reply.

I took James down for a practice session to see how he’d get on. The coaches, parents and boys were all really welcoming, and it went okay but James was a bit shy and because all the other lads knew each other, and he was the noob he didn’t really get too involved.

The next week was a tournament and James went along again. It was a similar story again. He didn’t think there was any point being there if he wasn’t going to get his hands on the ball. And if I’m honest, I was getting a bit frustrated for him. One of the coaches, Tim, noticed James was a bit upset and spoke with him about it and to me too. The next game came along and Tim set the team up telling the lads who should take the restarts and who they should pass to. This gave everyone a go and James absolutely loved it.

His brother got so jealous he quit athletics a couple of weeks later and joined up too. I’m now coaching at the club and this season James was delighted to be name player of the season for the U10s. None of this would have happened if the Vs wasn’t the welcoming, community club it is, or if we didn’t have such excellent and committed coaches who look after the development players just as well as they do the little stars.

If you’re thinking about getting your son or daughter involved in rugby, then Verulamians is the place to go. The first three sessions are free, the next few years are priceless…