‘Our whole game is around fundamental skills, so what the [Bears] players are taking through the young players is all what we do on a weekly basis. So it’s good to be able to share it,’ said Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam during Friday evening’s session with members of the Guernsey Rugby Academy.
He added that he loved to see the enthusiasm of the kids and emphasised that their desire to learn is the key to succeeding in the game.
‘All I always say we just need coachable players, players who want to get better, and then the magic happens when there’s good coaches being able to show them what to do. Then you’ve got some awesome stuff,’ Lam said.
‘I’m seeing a lot of that, boys and girls, smiles on faces, listening. I think the coaches, the players are doing a great job.’
The Bears were in the island at the invitation of their owner, Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown, and while the weekend was used as a pre-season bonding session for players and staff, Lam called the training session with the local academy ‘a big part’ of their visit.
‘It’s great to be here, a huge opportunity for us.
‘Our whole vision is to inspire our community through rugby success and what Steve’s wanted, to come here and work with the local community, is what we’re all about.’
While stars like Bristol’s new signing Louis Rees-Zammit were passing on their knowledge to the youngsters, the Bears director of rugby explained that, in his view, the key to progression for the kids is to focus on ‘skills, skills, skills’ at first.
‘Just get better at the skills and then you don’t have to worry about those sort of things, you can just worry about decision-making and playing the game.
‘I have a saying that I like the players who have at least a thousand touches. They’ve got to get really comfortable with the ball. If you’re a young player, get a ball, you get given a ball, take it everywhere, get used to handling the ball.
‘It’s no different to footballers there. They’re so good and natural with their foot on the ball. It’s the same with the rugby players.
‘And work hard. If you want to work hard you’ll get your dreams. It’s the person who works hard who's the one who comes through, more than the most talented.’
Guernsey Rugby Academy deputy chairman Dave McGall was thrilled with how the session went.
‘How incredibly fortunate are we to be able to have and welcome the Bears to Guernsey on a day like today? There’s been a huge amount of preparation gone into this, but we’re just incredibly lucky,’ he said.
‘What it means to the kids, you could just look around and see on their faces and how amazing it is to have pro players coming down and giving them one-to-one instruction. It’s incredible.’
He also hopes that a link between the Guernsey Rugby Academy and the Bristol Bears could grow in future, reporting that there appears to be ‘a real appetite’ for it.
‘The Bears do an awful lot of work in the community, it is really what the Bears stand for, and they’re really hoping to help the Guernsey community and give opportunities to potential players that might come through the ranks. That’s an amazing link up that we should be able to help organise,’ McGall said.
‘If we can formalise something and, and it works for both parties – if you look at what Steve Lansdown has offered to the guys on the football front with Bristol City – it would be amazing for us to be able to produce the very first Guernsey professional rugby player to go and play in the Premiership.’
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