I have had a great day today watching the Invictus wheelchair rugby trials in Leicester. Mike Spence and Jinx have done an excellent job in a very short time to teach the game to a really committed group of service personnel. Today was the second day of the trials for the GB Invictus squad and looking at the talent around I am pleased I have no part to play in selection- it will be difficult! The squad looks very professional in their Help4Heroes kit and the new Roma chairs also purchased by that great charity Help4Heroes – the team certainly have the best equipment to do the job. With just 43 days to go before the Invictus rugby tournament there is not a great deal of time left for training but looking at the players today I am sure this is going to be one hell of a team! A big thank you to Leicester Tigers who provided the opposition for today’s trials and gave the Invictus players a real test. For me it was a chance to catch up with the likes of Pricey, Rob Tarr and Jinx and to hear the latest about their clubs. The Pirates have lots coming up as their 25th anniversary gets closer. It would be good to mark that occasion with some new players for the Pirates team and we need to look to see how we can all help to do that.
Star singer, soprano Laura Wright joined in some of the action at the trials today. Laura is an Invictus ambassador and those of you who do not follow opera will know her instead as the attractive lady who sang the national anthem at Twickenham last season. She is no stranger to rugby either as she plays herself for Rosslyn Park. I did notice that there were plenty of players queuing up to have ‘selfies’ taken with her – a coach or two also!
And so I left Leicester behind to get myself ready for Odense. I fly out to join the squad on Friday and have a busy weekend ahead where I have been asked to lead on one of the IWRF development workshops and talk about the work we are doing to introduce the sport to different groups through our various programmes such as RugbyWheels and the military programme. I am also presenting on the WWRC15 tournament. Then we have the General Assembly. Thank you to the DMG, coaches and performance staff who have helped our International Management Group form our responses to the various motions that the Assembly will be considering. As your voting member at the Assembly I feel much happier knowing that I go with a mandate that everyone in GBWR has had an opportunity to consider and comment on. After the formal business comes the real reason we all want to be there – the tournament! We have a pretty tough group and kick off against paralympic gold medallists Australia. But we are ready for the challenge and eager to pitch ourselves against the very best. This is a young and largely inexperienced GB squad but it has real talent and a great spirit about it, so no matter who the opposition is they will be wise not to under-estimate what we are capable of. Our Chairman Kevin Aitchison is leaving his desk behind to fly out and watch a couple of matches, and Trustees Andrew Flatt and Mike Spence will also be out to support. Richard Allcroft will be there in his IWRF role so all in all we are going to be well represented.
That’s it for now. Keep an eye on the website for updates on progress.
David Pond
