OLs Ladies Achieve Their Goal

Written by Hannah Leyland

Tuesday, 01 July 2008

What began a season of change ended in a respectable result for Old Leamingtonian Ladies rugby team, finishing mid-table. Freshly promoted to Midlands Championship 2 following a league win at the end of the 06/07 season the team were expecting a whole host of new challenges but set a goal of finishing mid table. The team began their pre-season training over the summer with their coaching team; Gemma Lewis and Caz Lambert, both from a playing and coaching background. The team also chose a new captain, Danni Benge who joined the team at fly half from Chesham Ladies at the beginning of the previous season. Vice captaincy went to Laura Knox, a regular at OL’s who had worked hard the previous season to improve her game and shown her leadership skills. Ten of the newly recruited players from the previous season stayed on to the 07/08 season and the team started with a plentiful squad of 24. For Old Leamingtonian’s the league season started late and the first games didn’t come until October 2007. Unsure what to expect in this new league OL’s stormed to glory in their first two games. A good 29-5 win against old rivals Longton and a 51-0 win against the league regulars Lutterworth. This confidence was shaken in the next couple of months as we faced the top of the table teams, Loughborough with a strong fresh legged student filled side and Olney who went on to win the league. We kept our heads, beat Longton and Lutterworth convincingly in the return fixtures and maintained our composition as we fought hard and completed the season mid table. Last Friday the team marked the end of the season with their annual dinner and acknowledged outstanding performers on the team. Christie Foster took two awards home for consistently good performance at number 8 as Forward of the Year 2008 and she was also voted the team’s Player’s Player 2008. In the backs, full back Celina Bennett took the Back of the Year 2008 award for attitude, commitment, consistency on the pitch and perseverance in spite of an injury mid season.  Prop Mary Surgue took the award for Most Improved Player 2008 as she has developed her skills, fitness and in turn playing ability immensely over the past season. The coaches chose to give their special player ‘Bungi Award’ for 2008 to Claire Nuznyi, who having only begun playing rugby towards the end of the previous season she never picked up a ball before. She has proved to be a naturally talented player with a good attitude, keenness to develop and all round excellent player to play with, and coach. The award for Club Person of the Year 2008 was awarded to Pip Colenutt who as well as playing and training every week has been the club secretary for the last season, she has kept everything running smoothly even during the teams transition to a new chairwoman. The final ‘You didn’t want to do it like that’ award for a notable moment of the year went to Gemma Honour for getting pregnant just before the start of the season! The good news is she had a healthy baby girl – Taylah May Gilleece-Honor and Gemma will be back at training next week ready for the next season…..don’t do it again!! The next season will bring both stability and freshness to the team. The coaching duo of Gemma and Caz will remain with the team and build on the work they did last year but they will be working with a new leadership team. Victoria Stokes, a fixture and fitting at the club, will be taking on the captaincy with May Sly at her side as vice captain. We are always on the look out for new players and Old Leamingtonian Ladies has a solid reputation for being a welcoming, committed to playing, yet sociable team. We welcome new or experienced players - interested? Go to the Women’s pages on this site & contact one of the committee or come along to the Crofts on Mondays and Wednesday nights at 7.30pm.

 

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