Somerton club’s community impact
Somerton Rugby Football Club’s management team has been working hard to be a real benefit and at the heart of their local community.
Several years ago, the Somerset club reintroduced its mini and junior section on Sunday mornings for boys and girls from four to 16 to experience what rugby has to offer. These sessions started with around 10-20 children and have grown to well over 100 every Sunday morning throughout the season. The number of coaches and other volunteers has grown to meet the demand, with parents attending with their children enjoying being part of the rugby family at the club.
Somerton has been affiliated with Bath Rugby for a number of years and has run rugby camps for youngsters in association with the professional Community Coaches from Bath Rugby. These camps help develop youngsters’ confidence, decision making, game understanding and spatial awareness. A visit to Bath Rugby’s training base at the end of the 2022/23 season was a memorable event for all the young players involved.
Community Rugby Coach appointed
The club’s management team introduced the role of Community Rugby Coach last summer, a part-time role that helps promote rugby within the local community. This was made possible thanks to generous support from Bradfords Building Supplies Ltd and a grant from Somerton Town Council.
Having appointed Helen Sheerman, she has been delivering free rugby sessions to 160 primary aged school children in five local schools and will be visiting a further five. Helen has also led a rugby based sensory walk for adults of all abilities, including wheelchair users, along the banks of the river Parrett in Langport, Somerset. This was aimed at introducing the club and the sport to all sectors of the community. A generous grant from Alison Homes for the provision of a pathway for wheelchair users at Somerton Recreation Ground also sees the club liaising with the Recreation Ground Trustees to make this a reality.
Helen also hosted an Allianz Inner Warrior session for girls aged nine to 16 and this is being followed by girls’ skills and development sessions one evening every week as well as after school coaching sessions for girls in local secondary schools, as the Somerton club works to grow numbers of girls and women involved in rugby.
Dancing their way to awards
The club is tripping the light fantastic both on and off the pitch, running three very successful ‘SRFC does Strictly Come Dancing’ for the Somerton and wider communities. Six volunteers have learned to dance with the assistance of ‘Ginger Fred’ dance studios in Langport and the sold-out events have brought funding for local charities.
Little surprise then that in the Somerton Town Council Community Awards for 2023, the club won the Community Group award and one of the club’s stalwarts, Dan Dury, won Sports Personality of the Year. Dan has been significant in driving the success of the club’s age grade section.
They certainly are working together for Somerton through rugby!
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