Hanno Dirksen and James King enjoyed a trip to Crynant RFC
The Dulais Valley Cubs invited Ospreys pair Hanno Dirksen and James King to join them at one of their training sessions last week.
Hanno and James joined in the training sessions with all of the different age grades. They worked on some passing training with the youngsters and enjoyed helping the boys and girls with their tackle technique. The duo also joined in with a game of tag rugby with the Under 7s, where competitive Hanno couldn’t resist scoring a try for his side. They also took part in a Q&A session, with the children coming up with some fantastic questions for the players.
The Dulais Valley club is an amalgamation of the junior sections of Banwen, Seven Sisters and Crynant Rugby Clubs, formed several years ago when the teams joined together with the help of the Ospreys Community Rugby team in a concerted attempt to halt falling numbers of young children in the area taking up rugby.
The result has been highly successful with up to 150 youngsters from 4 to 12 years old attending training on a weekly basis and they now field at least one team in every age grade.
Alun Hawkes, Dulais Valley Cubs Chairman said:
“The boys and girls have really enjoyed the visit from Hanno and James tonight. We really appreciate them coming up to the club and being such active participants in the training sessions, it’s been absolutely wonderful. We have worked a lot over the last few years with the Ospreys and it’s paying dividends with the amount of children we have playing for us now. I’d like to say thank you to the Ospreys for Hanno and James up here this evening.”
Hanno Dirksen added:
“We’ve had a great time tonight at Crynant RFC. The boys and girls here are really dedicated and it’s great to see them all training so hard but having fun with it too. The parents and coaches make it possible and it’s brilliant that as Ospreys we can contribute to the clubs future and help out.”
Pictured above are Hanno and James taking questions from the youngsters inside the changing room at the end of training...