THERE was a large turnout of players, members and parents at Langholm rugby club last Friday evening to celebrate it becoming the first Borders Positive Coaching Scotland club in association with the Bill McLaren Foundation and to receive its accreditation, writes John Smith.
The accreditation was presented to Langholm rugby development officer Iain Park by Alan and Linda Lawson, Bill’s daughter.
Linda spoke of how much her father had loved coming to the rugby at Milntown and Alan, commenting on Langholm’s achievement, said: “The Bill McLaren Foundation is delighted that Langholm Rugby Club is the first Borders club to embrace the Positive Coaching Scotland (PCS) programme.”
While the youth section went through their paces on Milntown with some of the coaches, Bosman Du Plessis from Positive Coaching Scotland gave an illustrated talk to the parents.
Mr Park, who had earlier introduced Bosman, told the audience he was extremely proud.
He added: “As a result of going through the PCS process, the Langholm club now has a clear set of values.
“Our new mission statement will be to create an open, welcoming club that provides a set of values that will ensure that all players develop their rugby skills in a safe environment and enjoy playing, while equipping them with life skills that reach far beyond rugby.”
Club president Jake Little said: “We have hit difficult times recently and we need to put things in place to ensure a better future for the club and this seemed to be a very definite step in the right direction. The team of coaches who have put this together have worked extremely hard and the club is grateful for all their efforts.”
The Positive Coaching Scotland programme in association with The Bill McLaren Foundation operates as a partnership between sportscotland, the Winning Scotland Foundation, the Bill McLaren Foundation and Scottish Rugby.
Its main aim is to build and sustain a strong and positive rugby culture in order to develop young rugby players and develop young people through the sport.
This programme forms part of sportscotland’s national roll-out of the PCS programme through governing bodies and local authorities.