TOMASZ CHADWICK: The future is bright at Silver Royd

Teams from Filey, Graham, Scalby and St Augustine’s School all took part in what was a fantastic day for rugby. Impressive performances came from Scalby’s year 10s, and St Augustine’s year nine and 10 teams.

Simon Smith and Doug Symmons work at Filey and St Augustine’s respectively and have managed to fulfil every fixture this year and deserve huge credit for this.

They are fantastic to work with and have been a fantastic asset to rugby in Scarborough for a number of years now.

I have recently started coaching in Yorkshire Coast College in an attempt to kick-start rugby there for the coming academic year.

Tom Harrison has been employed as their new college sports maker and is working to promote all sports as well as rugby.

Despite the attendance to the sessions being a little inconsistent, it is encouraging to see the same few continuing to show up and looking to develop their skills while learning about the sport.

It is a positive sign for the future and I’m sure now Tom is in his position, the college has got as good a chance as it’s ever going to have for rugby to become a core sport there.

I hope one day the rugby side there will be competitive enough to hold regular fixtures against Scarborough Sixth Form.

Competition breeds success and this will only be a good thing for the town if rugby at Yorkshire Coast College takes off.

On Monday evening, Scarborough RUFC hosted a Primary Schools Tag Festival, where 11 schools came to play against one another.

Now that the schools have played in a number of these events I was able to split the schools into groups of similar skill levels, which meant more games were competitive and each school got an array of fixtures.

Sherburn ended up winning the tournament, beating Newby in a very close final.

However, although competition is great for the kids at this age group, it really is about getting as many boys and girls playing as possible and I’m happy to say this happened on Monday.

I shall be organising a couple more tournaments towards the end of the year and I’d love more schools to join in on what are always fantastic occasions.

This week’s Active Youth Trainer of the Week was Stephanie Else, who is one of our regular trainers within our junior section.

As well as training with the other under-13s girls we have at the club, Steph has also been known to train with the senior ladies side too.

Although her involvement at this level has to be tailored for safety reasons, she shows no fear of getting involved and isn’t daunted by the skill level that this team has recently showcased in front of so many in this town.

It’s definitely a just reward for a very bright and positive girl, and I’m glad she had such a good time being able to walk out with her father Matty onto the pitch. Keep up the good work Steph.

On Sunday while our junior teams were playing against Malton, our minis were either playing at home in an under-sevens and under-eights East Yorkshire festival, or playing away in Bridlington.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Nick Ingham for the hard work he put in to organise the festival.

As well as all the administrative work before the event, he was also at the club early on Sunday morning to set up pitches and ensure everything was in place.

This was less than 24 hours after he’d helped Scarborough’s first XV successfully beat opponents Blackburn in a National Cup quarter-final.

The festival was a fantastic success and it was quite a sight to see more than nine clubs at Silver Royd on the day.

The next time our minis will be at home in a festival will be on April 18 and 19, which promises to be an action-packed weekend.

This Sunday our minis will all be training at home once again, which will give the coaches much needed contact time with the players to develop their skills.

Our under-14s will be playing at home against Guisborough (11am kick-off) and our junior colts side will be taking on Hull Ionians in the Yorkshire Cup, kick-off at 12pm.

I was also able to have a catch up with Jennifer Jaconelli last week.

I always enjoy these meetings as together we are able to brainstorm and think collectively of new ideas and ways to promote the Active Youth Scheme.

It is another example of McCain lending their support to Scarborough RUFC and the scheme itself, by offering Jennifer the freedom to consult with me.

As the end to the season draws nearer to a close, reflection is becoming more and more of a frequent occurrence for me, and the appreciation for the effort, dedication and support that McCain has given the scheme and subsequently this town, can’t be faulted.