Young Bognor rugby team survive - and prosper

At the end of last season, the coach stepped down as he moved out of the area. At the time the team were down to about ten players and had no coaches.

Three parents took over managing and coaching the team, along with one of the parents’ daughters, Lilly Clark, older sister of one of the team.

Stuart Clark has taken over admin and management of the team, Graham Broome has stepped into the main coaching role, Hassan Elzayat has joined as a coach and Lilly has also taken on coaching.

Stuart said: “When we took over, we discovered not only were we were short of players, we also needed to replace all the team kit and training equipment.

“I had a wonderful time finding sponsorship and donations and we have managed to get full playing kit and training kit.

The sponsors are Radflooring, Howdens, Rise and Shine kids club, KST Brickwork, Novastar and Premiere Refurbishments Ltd and we have had donations from companies and parents.

“The team started up again in September and our numbers have grown to 17 registered players, including for the first time in the team three girls and we are now trying to grow in numbers.

“The team will remain mixed for this season and next season but trying to get enough players to split the teams into female and male in two years is high on our priority list.

“The team have a fantastic and fun team ethic and the coaches and parents are brilliant. Rugby is a very disciplined sport and we encourage the children to make new friends, learn new skills and perform as part of a team. We have brilliant, fun training seasons, keeping the players fit.

"We train on a Wednesday evening at the club, as well as training Sundays and playing against other teams. We would like to get more players, school Year 5s, nine and ten-year-olds.”

If you’re interested email Stuart at [email protected] or Alex Coombes at Bognorminifixture[email protected]