Year 7 Girls from Leeds Rhinos Foundation partner school John Smeaton took part in their first Touch Rugby tournament just hours after receiving their first lesson, with Women and Girls Rugby League Development Officer Lois Forsell.
The after school festival which was held at John Smeaton Academy last Thursday, saw five teams made up of year 7 and 8 girls take part in the indoor touch Rugby format, with Temple Moor, Corpus Christi and John Smeaton Academy all taking part.
The tournaments are used as an event for the pupils to practice all the skills they’ve learnt in lessons, but for one team in attendance from John Smeaton Academy, the year 7 girls’ team had only received their first lesson that morning.
Lois Forsell, who organized the tournament was amazed with the year 7 girl’s enthusiasm to learn the game so quickly:
“They were fantastic and their enthusiasm to come along after just a taste of rugby league was great. They adapted really well and picked the rules up as they went along improving game by game which was great to see.”
Thursday’s indoor touch tournament was the first competition to take place in the Leeds East partnership, following on from the West Leeds partnership tournament that was staged back in November.
All the girls involved in the tournaments are being taught touch rugby as part of a block of lessons delivered by the Leeds Rhinos Foundation, with some school teams even going on to represent Leeds in the Champions Schools competition:
Lois added: “There were some good skills on show tonight from the girls who are learning the game quickly, Temple Moor looked great and with our support hopefully they can go on and be successful in the Champion Schools.”
The final results on the night:
Temple Moor- 9 Points
Corpus Christi A- 9 Points
Corpus Christi B- 9 Points
John Smeaton A- 8 Points
John Smeaton B- 5 Points
For any further information on Girls school or club rugby league please contact lois.forsell@leedsrugby.com