Meeting the Harlequins
Sharing a pitch with rugby giants is only a dream for many, but for one Year 9 rugby team the dream became a reality! Pupils from the Royal Alexandra and Albert School had the chance to play on the same pitch as The Harlequins, a top team in the English Rugby Union. It all came about when Mr Calder, parent of three pupils at the School, won the morning with the Harlequins in a raffle at a Help for Heroes event. Mr and Mrs Calder generously donated their prize to the School so that the Year 9 rugby team would have the opportunity to meet the famous Quins. Their son Angus is a member of the Year 9 team.
The boys’ morning started off with an hour long training session with the Harlequins’ Academy coach at the Surrey Sports Park. Some of the pupils were rather distracted throughout the session – The Harlequins’ 1st team were training at the other end of the pitch.
Luckily for the Year 9 team they were able to watch the remainder of the 1st team’s training session and then meet some of the star players, including Nick Evans and Harlequins Player of the Year for the 2012/2013 season, Nick Easter.
Angus, 13, who is a London Wasps’ supporter said, “Although I’m not a Harlequins fan, it was still fantastic to meet the players. They were great and signed a lot of autographs for us. My brothers Ben and Josh came along with the team; Ben is a Harlequins supported so he loved the experience.”
The Year 9 team have been together for three years and for all this time they have been coached by Mr Brown. Once the boys got back from their morning with the Quins, Mr Brown put the boys through their paces, practicing all they had learned with the Academy coach. “It was tiring,” Angus mentioned, “but we had a great time.”
