We enter Easter week in a very good place – London has just returned from Germany as the Bernd Best champions, winners of the biggest club tournament in the world! our tickets for BT WWRC15 have just gone on sale and early take up has been strong; we have just been awarded £250k Reward and Incentive funding from Sport England in recognition that we exceeded our participation targets this year; Spencer Vaughan who has played for Plymouth Hawks and Pirates (now Ospreys) and who played in the Invictus Games has been shortlisted for a People’s Choice award in this year’s prestigious fundraising ‘Soldiering On Through Life Awards’; our ground breaking partnership with BT formally starts on 1 April and we are in the final stages of preparing for the most ambitious National Championships we have ever staged. I could go on…but I hope you share my sense of optimism and pride that our sport is in a great place as we begin the third year of our current funding cycle. I’m really pleased for all of our clubs who took part in the Bernd Best tournament but especially so for London – it’s a great achievement to win and it’s a sign of the growing strength of our club system. Who would have thought three years ago that at this point we would have 17 clubs in the league with another three in the early stages of development but which should be ready to join the league next season? Whilst we are all really pleased about the growth in the number of clubs and in opportunities for those who want to play wheelchair rugby, it does present many challenges, not least in how we continue to provide support to clubs with only three part-time RDOs, manage our competition structure and secure sufficient funding to pay for a growing sport. These are good challenges to have – better to be managing lively growth than a declining sport! As we launch our business plan for the coming year and our thoughts turn to preparing for the next 4 year funding round, we will be trying to work with you to ensure we can continue the positive journey we are on.
A very happy Easter to everyone and I hope training goes well for those preparing for the final games in the Super Series tournament.
David Pond
