ECCLES JUNIORS Spotlight on … Eccles U9s. A huge emphasis on building for the future has swept across Eccles RFC in the last year, this mentality and drive is no more evident than in our Under 9's squad who are the epitome of the ethos deeply instilled into this club. They are an athletic, focused squad that have bonded in the last three years. They also 'get it', what it means to be part of Eccles. The attitude, spirit, pride and history you feel wearing the shirt. These lads have bonded over the last few years and have stepped up to tackle brilliantly this year, working as an aggressive, united pack that always support one another. The squad is always having fun and enjoying themselves, but as they mature the lads have organically shifted their mentality to add a natural competitive edge, they're out there to win now. Over the course of this season our U9's have an average weekly squad number of 21! This brilliant commitment by both children, their friends and family alike has built an incredible depth that allows the teams playing to be setup like a much older, structured and advanced team, with the coaches able to give every child a chance explore the possibilities, skill-sets and playing techniques involved in rugby. The only issue with this size of squad is that we often struggle to find decent opposition numbers but when we do...boy is there a contest out there! We are proud of the fact that every opposition team is welcome to play, train or socialise with us. This was shown recently when an opposition squad without a coach were invited to Eccles to train along all of our three squads that were also involved in games that day, our coaches and team welcomed the travelling boys and girls and we hope they gained some experience and enjoyed the mud! A few new faces have been seamlessly integrated into the team this year and drop off has been minimal, if not none existent. We have direct runners, we have dancers, phenomenal tacklers, line breakers, side steppers, ball snatchers and trackers of the play. We celebrate and utilise this diversity. Nobody is too small, too big, too new, under appreciated or undervalued. Watching the lads out there picking each other up, subtly celebrating then running back into position, hunting opposition in a pack and creating fast off the shoulder rugby has helped them to create an envious record of wins that are coming week in, week out against some renowned and 'bigger' opposition. What's apparent now is they've gone from looking to us for advice and support to looking at themselves, helping their fellow player, a word in the ear, a little fist bump, parents always cheering for a child that's not theirs, laughs...We see it, we feel it. They simply don't know how to give up and as we continue to build technique and structure into their natural flair and skill, we're so excited to see where this lot go. Naithan Ariane // Eccles RFC U9s coach
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