Over 80 Doncaster secondary school pupils in year 7 and 8 took to the field yesterday to take part in the first Club Doncaster Foundation Sky Try Festival.
Sky Try is a project funded by Sky and the RFL to grow the game focusing on 4 key areas: primary schools, secondary schools, embed the pathway and making the big games bigger.The tournament hosted at Campsmount Academy was deemed a huge success by both players and staff from the schools that attended, including:
• Campsmount
• Hungerhill
• Don Valley
• XP School
• Balby Carr
• Armthorpe
The game adopted 9-a-side competition rules and was won by Hungerhill who will now progress into the national competition.
The schools were also in for an extra special treat with former Doncaster Rugby League star Mitch Vincent refereeing a set of fixtures, allowing the pupils the chance to ask questions about being a professional player.
Commenting on the event, community coach Dave Cowell stated: “We were overwhelmed by the amount of pupils that took part in the tournament and the standard was very high.
”The schools have really embraced the sport of rugby league and we are now really looking forward to the Year 9 and 10 competition next week.
”The players that took part in the tournament will now have the opportunity to attend a elite player pathway programme later in the year to ultimately create a performance route into the Doncaster Rugby League team.
Gareth Cook, Club Doncaster Foundation Community Officer added: ”Sky Try is a wonderful opportunity to raise the profile of rugby league in Doncaster and the response we have had for our first tournament has been outstanding.
”We are predicting a big future for the game in Doncaster thanks to the support of Sky and the RFL and we are looking forward to hosting more successful tournament’s in the future.”
The next tournament for schools is on Thursday 8th October and if your school would like to take part please email: david.cowell@clubdoncasterfoundation.co.uk
For more information about the Club Doncaster Foundation please visit: www.clubdoncasterfoundation.co.uk
You can see highlights from the day below: