The Women’s Rugby Union Club is close to reaching the funding required to establish a development squad. At the time of writing, the York Sport Union Team of the Year for 2014 had raised £2350 of the £2640 target.
The funding will allow the Club to run training sessions led by a qualified coach for the rest of the season, as well as providing developing players with transport to watch the First XV’s away games.
Treasurer Samantha Crichton identified the hugely positive impact the development squad will have on the Club: “We have found that a number of potentially gifted women drop out of the club in the first few weeks because they struggle to pick up the new concepts quickly and the fast paced sessions can be off-putting to someone who has never touched a rugby ball before.
“The development team will nurture these new players and help develop their basic skills and hopefully prevent gifted women dropping out as sessions are more tailored to their ability.”
Crichton also believes that the development squad would benefit the First XV in the long run: “By encouraging more girls into the game we hope that the development squad will eventually feed into the first XV squad. It will enable us to have a more competitive selection process and will encourage players to improve and move up into the first team.”
That UYWRUFC is nearing this long-term objective is testament to some incredibly successful past few months. Having been crowned League and Roses Champions in 2014, the Club can look forward to competing for similar successes this year.
“It has always been the Club’s objective to attract new girls into the sport,” says Crichton. “We finally feel that this year it is possible to begin recruitment for a development squad which we hope will increase participation.”
YASSSS GAGAAA