Eyasses go head to head with South Wales Pirates at Llandarcy
Youngsters from the Ospreys ‘C’ group of players, teenagers on the development pathway with the region, took part in a series of wheelchair rugby matches against the players from the South Wales Pirates Wheelchair rugby team at Llandarcy on Tuesday.
The exercise was part of the holistic development programme for the Young Ospreys and had been organised by Rev. Steve Jones, volunteer Sports Chaplain to the Ospreys Academy, with the help of Disability Sport Wales Officer Vicky Radmore and James Jones of Neath Port Talbot College.
Rev Steve commented on the day:
“We wanted the lads to experience something really different and to get them thinking about attitudes and values as they were forced to consider the obstacles that some other people have to overcome in life in order to practice sport. If a little nervous at the start the Ospreys boys soon got into it and by the end of the day they had an increased appreciation of the dedication, skilfulness and commitment of their disabled sporting opponents.”
Amongst their opponents was David Anthony from Tonna, who as well as playing for South Wales Pirates, is also a current member of Team GB’s Wheelchair Rugby Team.
He in particular put the Ospreys youngsters through their paces as he confronted them on the pitch with his characteristic lightening speed and ferocious tackling which characterizes wheelchair rugby, previously known as ‘murderball’ due to its full contact nature.
David participated in last year’s paralympic games in London where you may have seen him on TV sporting a bright blue mohican hairstyle. For the matches against the Ospreys the mohican was still evident but had changed in colour to a patriotic red. Perhaps a prophetic sign that wheelchair rugby is set to really take off in popularity of participation and support in Wales. All at the Ospreys hope that this will be the case.
For further details on wheelchair rugby visit:-
www.gbwr.org.uk and www.pirateswrc.com