Coach Development Officer Matt Silva spearheaded the intensive two-day course where established Six Nations players Elinor Snowsill, Meg York, Hannah Jones and Amy Day were joined by Alisha Butchers, Bethan Dainton, Sinead Breeze, Sian Moore, Brittony Price and Jess Kavanagh.
Silva, who delivered the course alongside Carly Smith and Adam Park, was mightily impressed with the participants who soaked up the course like sponges.
“All of the girls had an excellent attitude and were fully committed and they all took it very seriously. In addition there are a couple of girls – Keira Bevan and Mel Clay – who are already coaching the Ospreys Under 18s with Mel in particular showing the potential to gain Level 3,” said Silva.
“The fact these girls did the course in their own time and completed it successfully will hopefully provide inspiration for others to follow suit – hopefully the girls have opened the door as we look to increase the numbers of coaches in the game.”
WRU National Women’s Rugby Manager Caroline Spanton was ecstatic to see so many of Wales’ top flight team take part and complete the course as she declared it shows the importance of international athletes being role models and hopes their participation will encourage other women and girls to get involved in coaching.
“Coaching can be very rewarding and there are great opportunities now in cluster clubs, clubs, schools and regions,” she said.
“We need to support more women to get on to the coaching pathway and this will be a focus in the next 12 months for us as a governing body.”
Wales international scrum half Amy Day, currently recovering from a Lisfranc fracture, was one of the 10 players to complete the course.
“I’ve wanted to get into coaching for some time so I jumped at the chance of doing the course. It’s a good time to get involved in the game as girls rugby is on the up,” she said.
Amy, along with the other Level 1 coaches, will now be involved in the various 28 Rugby Clusters which have been set up around the country providing the opportunity for girls-only rugby from Under 9s to Under 15s from April to July.
