The 2015 Ospreys European Summer Camp drew to a close at the weekend, with dozens of teenagers from across the continent heading home having enjoyed a taste of Ospreylian culture.
Operated by Ospreys in the Community, in conjunction with Swansea University, and supported by Princes Gate Water, Euro Commercials and Herbalife, the camp saw the youngsters based at the University for the duration of their stay, utilising facilities at the Sketty Lane sports centre and also attending the region’s Llandarcy training base.
Community Officer, Tom Sloane, headed up the two-week camp, and was joined on the training pitch by Ospreys coaches for specialist sessions.
Support staff also delivered lectures on a range of topics including nutrition, conditioning, sports psychology and analysis, providing the teenagers with valuable knowledge to take home with them as they continuing their rugby development.
There were also coaching masterclasses delivered at Llandarcy by players including Lloyd Ashley, Ross Jones and Ashley Beck, focusing on specialist positional skills.
Andrew Hore, Ospreys CEO, said:
“A lot of work has gone into putting together the Ospreys European Summer Camps, which have gone from strength to strength over the last few years.. As an organisation we’ve got a proud record of youth development and hundreds of young rugby players and their coaches from across the continent have now come to the region to benefit from our world leading development programme.
“The European Summer Camps offer the chance of a lifetime for children from across the continent to enjoy the full Ospreylian experience. The programme of activity is based on the exact same principles that we apply to our elite youth and senior training programmes, so participants were able to get a real taste of life as a professional rugby player.”
In addition to rugby development, the camps allow participants to enjoy a full taste of local culture, with daily English language classes and excursions to places of interest in the region all included.
“We hope that all the youngsters who attended this year’s camp enjoyed their time and will take a little bit of Ospreylia home with them. We are incredibly grateful to everybody who worked to make this such a huge success, particularly the commercial partners who have supported the programme over the last few weeks.”
Ollivier Giminez of the Le Stade Ucclois club in Belgium said:
“The kids came back delighted with their stay in Swansea. They already all asked their parents to come back next year for two weeks. You made a couple of Ospreys fans, I can tell you”!