Mako’s Thumbs Up for Chess Valley RFC
After 38 weeks of demanding exercise with their club rugby coach on Zoom, Chess Valley U13s got a thumbs up from Mako Vunipola before getting ready to head back to the pitch.
Said the prop who’s used to pushing himself in training with Saracens, England and the British & Irish Lions: “Big congratulations to the Under 13s at Chess Valley who’ve all done thousands of burpees, press ups and jumping squats and not missed a single Sunday with coach Stuart on Zoom. And more than 2000 miles covered in a week for the Saracens Foundation too – well done boys! Glad you’ll soon be back at the club.”
Chess Valley rugby club in Hertfordshire haven’t lost a single U13 player during the pandemic and, in fact, gained Jeffrey as a new team mate. He’s been among 40-50 who have leapt out of bed every Sunday morning for an arduous workout with coach Stuart Miles who laughs that he’s become “the thinking man’s Joe Wicks”.
“We do a variety of workouts and warm down with Sweet Caroline which we’ve played whenever we have been involved in events at Saracens and seen them win,” says Stuart. “That’s 38 weeks of winning with Neil Diamond! We’ve also mixed it up over the weeks, dedicating one session to the NHS and one to Captain Sir Tom Moore. The boys and their parents are always there and some seniors and even kids from other rugby clubs have jumped on.”
Son Ollie, one of the team, gets kitted up for the dining room fitness sessions which are filmed live by mum Jo on her laptop from the breakfast bar. The table is shifted for the weekly event.
“All the boys are incredibly excited about getting back to rugby, both because they’ve missed the sport and because they’ll be together again,” says Stuart. “This was supposed to be their first season of youth rugby and they missed their U13 tour. They’ve stuck together throughout though, we haven’t lost anyone and even gained a player.”
The youngsters have also joined the whole club effort to fundraise for the Saracens Foundation with a mileage challenge. While they racked up their own distances, club safeguarding officer Andy Smith, who coaches son Cameron’s U16 team, with brothers Ollie in the U14s and Malachy in the U9s, cycled around 50 clubs, taking pictures of his team shirt at each one. He finished by cycling to Twickenham Stadium. Club sponsor and building control systems specialists T F Tull topped up a total that had reached £3,000 at the time of writing.
Ollie returned to St Clement Danes School in Chorleywood the week before the very last Zoom workout, glad to be back and fit enough to return to rugby with his schoolfriends too.
