Sparsholt College Sport students recently held their 11th annual tag rugby festival for 15 local primary schools, raising awareness for rugby as a sport and engaging with the local community.
This year the theme was World Cup and the Primary school students were encouraged to decorate their tents and themselves to represent the country they had been allocated. Due to the odd number of teams it meant that 2 schools had to merge together to create a ‘barbarian’ team. This was a fantastic example of how the festival positively encouraged pupils to work together to partake in the sport.
Organised and run solely by Sparsholt’s students, primary schools competed in the festival held at Winchester Rugby Club. Joanne Todd, Lecturer in Sport at the College said: “The 9-11 year old students showed great enthusiasm, energy and sportsmanship! The festival helps to develop the rugby community in and around Winchester and provides valuable experience for the students. It was a great day for all!”
As well as practising organisational, marketing and events skills, Pierre Clarke from the Rugby Football Union delivered refereeing sessions to the Sparsholt students for the festival, enabling them to learn a new skill set as part of their sports studies. The students proactively came together to create an event that would be a memorable experience for the primary school pupils. They secured sponsorship with iPro Sport so each pupil left with a goody bag including a iPro Sport drink and a number of other treats.