SARACENS RUGBY STARS GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY
A trio of England International rugby stars took part in a special end of season training session at Allianz Park for children with learning difficulties.
The players – Alex Goode, Jackson Wray, Alex Lozowski -who all play at club level for Saracens RFC, put the kids through their paces in a series of technical and physical challenges.
The session, organised in association with the Sarries Sport Foundation, gave the young lads a chance to show their skills and impress the England Internationals along the way.
England Full Back, Alex Goode, said: “Having been down here a few times and seeing all the kids involved in the programme and the smiles on their faces it’s just brilliant. I’ve been at Saracens my whole life and this is a small way where I can give back and help these kids have a great day. Just to be apart of it is amazing. I think on a skill level, their understanding of the game and their technique has improved dramatically. The level they’ve gone up to is incredible!
But I think the interaction with each other – how they communicate so well now, is brilliant. Certainly from the start, some of the new guys weren’t as good as that, and now you can just see how much they’ve blossomed, how confident they are with everyone else in the group and how much they want to get involved, I think its incredible!”
The session was sponsored by Alan Day who run weekly training sessions with the kids every Monday at Allianz Park that focus on improving the health and mental well-being of the participants.
Paul Tanner, Managing Director of Alan Day said: “I’ve been involved with Saracens RFC for four years now and as I say each time its amazing to see the growth in the boys week in week out.”
Hard-hitting academy graduate, Jackson Wray, added: “I’ve been here for a long time now and all the lads are so pleased that Paul’s (Tanner) committed to doing this. It’s not easy to run the programme, so it’s great to see Paul take the time to do it and give a little back to the community. The kids love coming down here on a Monday and we try and get down as much as possible to make it even more special for them.”
Wray and Goode were joined by Sarries’ Flanker, and former Chelsea academy footballer, Alex Lozowski, who added: ” Having heard about what goes on, I had to come down for myself to spend a bit of time with kids and chuck the ball around. I’m glad they’re enjoying it. Seeing some of the passing skills and some of them putting it the big hits on the bag, it really is great to see.
