VIDEO: Sutton Coldfield rugby coach visits home of England game

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SUTTON Coldfield coach Hannah Haywood received the exciting opportunity recently to meet England Rugby coaches Mike Catt and Graham Rowntree at Twickenham Stadium.

Haywood was invited by official insurance partner of England Rugby, QBE, and joined nine other coaches from across the country for a series of exclusive coaching clinics hosted by England’s coaching elite.

Haywood was visiting the ‘Home of England Rugby’ as a member of the QBE Coaching Club; an initiative that sees QBE, the business insurance specialist, working in partnership with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and its coach educators to recruit and train 2,015 new Level 2 coaches by September 2015.

Currently overseeing both boys and women’s teams at Sutton Coldfield RFC, Haywood joined the QBE Coaching Club to enhance her expertise and skill set in coaching.

“It was towards the end of last season that I received an email from Sutton Coldfield asking if anybody from the club would be interested in taking a Level 2 coaching qualification,” said Haywood.

“Obviously I jumped at the chance and consider myself very lucky to have been given such an amazing platform to develop myself even further as a coach.”

Haywood herself struggled as a player to find playing opportunities in women’s rugby and sees coaching as a way to give back and provide others with a pathway that she often found difficult.

“When I was younger there wasn’t a large call for girls to play rugby or a lot of places they could try the sport,” she said.

“I want to use my coaching qualification to continue building the women’s and girl’s sections at my club to ensure that we are a fully welcoming and inclusive organisation.”

For Haywood, whose father is the current chairman at Sutton Coldfield RFC, meeting two members of the England coaching staff provided further motivation to follow her dream of coaching professionally.

“It has been truly inspiring to meet Mike and Graham today,” said Haywood.

“They not only taught me some advanced drills and technical aspects to work on; but also how coaching is all about supporting the success of the game and highlighting why we play which I think is really important.

“When you’re working with grassroots players it’s always about enthusiasm and what people get out of it off the pitch as well as on it.”

For Catt and Rowntree, grassroot rugby coaches such as Haywood play a vital part in the overall development of the game.

“Coaching is crucial in developing, sustaining and increasing participation in rugby union,” said Catt.

“We need to make sure we have enough quality coaches like Hannah to welcome new players to our local clubs and encourage them to keep coming back.”

“It was great meet Hannah today and she has all the attributes and passion to become a fantastic coach,” Rowntree added.

“The QBE Coaching Club has been successful in providing the likes of Hannah with the next step in their rugby coaching development and we are excited to see more aspiring coaches progress through the stages in the future.”

QBE is committed to supporting the development of rugby at all levels. For more information on QBE’s rugby activity visit www.QBErugby.com

Article source: http://www.espnscrum.com/super-rugby-2014/rugby/story/210373.html

VIDEO: Sutton Coldfield rugby coach visits home of England game