Devon Sharks
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RC: How important is youth rugby to
the club?
LK: “It is vital that we work towards
building junior sides. Rugby league is
a game for everybody, and we need to
be accessible to anybody who wants to
get involved. Whether playing, or not,
young, or old, male or female. We need
to create those opportunities, so anybody
who wants to get involved get in touch
with the club.”
PJ: “Youth development is massively
important to us because we need to
engrain the culture of rugby league from
primary school age onwards. When the
player reaches the age ready to play
open age then rugby league won’t be as
new to them. We want them to actually
want to play rugby league.”
RC: How does the club ensure that
young players enjoy a smooth transition
into the senior game?
PJ: “This isn’t something we have
experienced quite yet from our own
grassroots, however we have had players
join from rugby union grassroots. Never
easy to teach a 16 to 18 year old who has
played union all his life how to convert
to league. Our coaching team are union
players too and they bleed the players in
depending on the transferable skills.”
RC: Would you consider yours to be a
community club?
LK: “We have recently moved into a
small Devon community at Bovey Tracy.
The local populace has taken to the club,
and are very supportive of us. It is our
duty to not only represent them, but to
involve them.
It is also about becoming more than
just a rugby club, and as we develop
we would like to open our club to all
members of the community. Even if we
can just offer them somewhere to escape
too. This will come when the sports hub
comes together, and we are big enough to
let the community use our club house.”
PJ: “Yes we do, but we are trying
to become the central point for rugby
league for the whole of Devon too. We
would like to become the Exeter Chiefs
of rugby league”
RC: What do you believe could be some
of the biggest challenges the club may
face in the next 5 years?
LK: “Improving our standards so that
we can compete with the big amateur
clubs in the northern heartlands.”
PJ: “Time and resources will always
be against us, but developing opposition
nearer to us will be hard work.”
RC: What are the club’s ambitions for
the next 5 years?
LK: “I want to see us in our new
sports hub, and working towards
entering the national leagues.”
PJ: “We want to be semi-professional
one day but the next 5 years would be
hard. So, be sustainable and have a full
junior setup. At the moment we want to
engage parents, children and anyone else
who fancies volunteering at our club”.
Club Contact:
Facebook.com/devonsharksrlfc | Twitter: @devonsharks | Web: www.devonsharksrl.co.uk
30 Issue 73