The Bermuda women’s team hosted an “Intro to Rugby” seminar for Year 7 and Year 8 students at Saltus Grammar School.

The seminar focused on the fundamentals of the sport and how to play the game. Players from the national squad volunteered to teach the youngsters and hopefully inspire some of them to take it up the game for themselves.

The initiative continues efforts to promote rugby in the community, as members from the national squad took part in the You Go Girl relay race in Hamilton on June 5.

The squad has stepped up its training regimen in the recent months with the hopes of making a return to international competition after the forced reduction in activity owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Elicia Bullock, who spearheaded the organisation of the event, teaches at Saltus and has been training with the women’s team since the beginning of the year.

She attributes the lack of opportunity children have had throughout the pandemic to interact with sport as one of the main reasons why she felt an event such as this was important.

“In terms of children seeing sport out and about, they didn’t get as much viewing as they may have had in the past,” she said. “The children really missed that.”

Although the event was hosted for all children to take part, Bullock noted the significance it had with girls, as all the volunteers were female and some of them were their teachers.

“Seeing other women playing these sports is really important, it encourages them,” she added. “Especially when they see and know some of the people that play.”

She notes that more events like this would be useful, not just for rugby but for all sport and recognised the impact it has on the students.

“I think it’s a great way for them to try something in an environment where they already feel comfortable,” she said. ”There were a lot of comments afterwards from the students saying, ‘Wow that wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be’ and ‘That was really fun’. The children really enjoyed it.“

The national women’s squad hopes to do more with the youth and has plans for activities focusing on student engagement. There is squad training throughout the summer, with new players always accepted.

• Anyone interested can contact national women’s team representative Gillian Cross by e-mail at gcwcross@gmail.com