Manchester Village Spartans have further demonstrated their commitment to providing great coaching for players across all their teams with the announcement that Martin Powell of MGP Coaching has taken over the coaching of their 1st XV squad.

Martin runs his player-centred sports coaching business from a base in Lancaster, North West England and is well-respected for delivering fun & engaging coaching to all ages and abilities across Schools, Colleges & Universities as well as in Club & Community settings. Every Wednesday evening now sees him motivating and teaching the top players in our progressive gay and inclusive rugby union club.

Alongside being Head Coach for Lancaster Uni Men's Rugby Union teams, Martin brings over a decade of experience to his RFU Level-2 role, having being an England Rugby Coach to teams across England's Northwest. His appointment to the first team helps cement Neil Mason's (Director of Rugby) overall coaching strategy for the club.

Welcoming Martin to the club, Neil commented, "I'm delighted that Martin can bring his years of experience and engaging approach to sports training to our lads. Spartans have always had great coaching staff, so we were really pleased when we knew we'd secured a great coach to follow in some big footsteps in this important season for us."

Dean Bee, Spartans' Chairman added, "Martin joins at a time when we've strengthened our entire coaching offer, with Gareth Longley taking over the 2's and Development coaching supported by Scott Melville who'll focus on the newbies. As volunteers, our DOR, Gareth, Scott and others will continue to receive RFU and Sale Sharks support to boost their rugby CPD journey and help make us strong contenders for the Union Cup in Dublin in 2019 and the IGR UK League Championships."

For more info on Martin Powell, visit his Facebook Page @MGPcoaching

To join our training evenings visit our Facebook event page: www.facebook.com/events/2074723045921383/