Rugby players aged eight to 12 from the Maples community rugby programme leave Owen Roberts International airport for Freeport Bahamas for a series of matches culminating in two full age grade rugby internationals between Cayman and the Bahamas at under 10 and under 12 today (Friday).
The matches will give the coaches and junior development manager of the Cayman Islands Keswick Wright, a further opportunity to see the 40 or so players in international competition and identify potential players for further elite development for the Cayman Rugby sevens program that is aiming to compete in the Rio 2016 and 2020 Olympic games.
The two age grade rugby programmes have been in training since September along with Under-4, U-6, U-8, U-14 and U-16 programmes and have been playing domestic matches since Christmas on a Saturday morning.
Most of the players have been attending U10 RE/MAX and U12 Mourant Academy sessions on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Head coaches Chris Rowland of the U-10s and Roger Priaulx of the U-12s are confident of their teams chances of fairing well against the Bahamas this weekend.
Director of rugby Richard ‘Grizz’ Adams is pleased with the progress. “Chris and Roger have done very well this year really driving improvement along with the other coaches Alasdair Robertson, Brett Hill and Greg Link,” Adams said.
“Kes has recruited well through his school programmes and the numbers in each group are on the increase. Both programmes have a number of coaches and parents who volunteer week in and week out so the management side is strong and this is reflected in the playing ability of the athletes.”
“Originally we were supposed to go to Bermuda for the Conyers Cup but were unable to agree suitable dates for both sides. I am delighted that Bahamas has started a programme this year and I am very happy that we are going to play them despite some very difficult financing and travel arrangements as the games are in Freeport. Brett Hill of Fidelity and Fidelity themselves have been a great help in getting these matches off the ground.
“I have also made contact with a program in Miami and that has grown in the past year to four teams. Next year we are planning on setting up one or two festivals in Miami that will see four to six sides at U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-19 play and hopefully we will be able to finance running this twice a season.
From my perspective this is another opportunity to identify players with the talent, drive and desire to enter our elite sevens training programme that is geared to preparing players to qualify for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics where sevens rugby will now take part.”
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