Walking Rugby - Rugby for all! & it’s FREE @NRUFC

By john blower

Community activity, OPEN to ALL, starts 13th May, 7 - 8.30pm (then weekly, every Monday)

WHAT IS WALKING RUGBY?
The sessions are aimed to give rugby playing opportunities for those who may have never played rugby before, but at a slower pace. Sessions are a great way to increase your social activity and make friends with like minded people. There is a 30 minute social following the sessions.

Walking Rugby is a simplified version of Rugby for all ages, abilities & genders suitable for anybody wishing to gain that extra bit of fitness, including the inexperienced, injured, rehabilitating players or parents wishing to experience the thrill their children get at Northwich rugby club. Those of 50+ age can still indulge in their passion without the full on contact or those wishing to keep up their activity levels can try a new sport. Walking Rugby is a great leveller and you do not need to be fit – we can work on that together. You do need a certain degree of mobility but as we are open to all genders and ages – a ‘team’ means you all work as one.

What you need to know:
No running – walking determined by one foot on the ground at any time when in motion
No contact – similar to ‘touch rugby’ rules – two hands on shorts is all the contact made which qualifies as a tackle.
No Mauls or Rucks or Lineouts
Scrummaging – max 3 players per team stood in upright standing position and non-contested.
Passing backwards or lateral – offside rules apply
A try requires no bending – you walk across the try line ball in hand

Sound simple? Well we want to encourage people outside of the Rugby fraternity to come along and join in. If it sounds a bit too easy for you as an ex or injured player consider to try reaching the try line when your automatic reaction is to run and you can only walk…with someone walking very quickly behind you. It does look funny at times but is a very effective way of raising your heart rate.
A typical session increases your daily step count by between 4,500 and 8000 (depending on numbers per team)

Enjoy your team sport?
You will seek to work with your team mates to score a try – not done by standing still or ploughing forwards with the ball in hand. You have to weave, twist, turn and pass – what the walking does though is it enables those of varying levels of ability, strength, age and fitness etc. to compete equally against each other.
For those curious for the finer details – please come along, bring some friends and give it a try.

What do you need?
Trainers with a good tread or suitable boots weather dependent and training type clothes – that’s it! Oh and bring some water – you will need it. We do a warm up before the session so if you have any injuries – let us know so we can be considerate of that.

How much does it cost?
Nothing, zilch, zero it’s FREE

Please get in touch with any further queries – Steve Taylor: steve-yt@hotmail.co.uk the sessions are delivered in cooperation with Sale Sharks community trust Jimmy.Creighton@salesharks.com.

With walking rugby gaining popularity across the country, comes an inspiring story of how one player used it to recover from a stroke. This is 66-year-old Derek Holloway’s rugby journey. Two years ago I knew nothing about rugby apart from watching the occasional game on TV. But a newspaper article about walking rugby caught my eye and I thought ‘I can do that’, so went along to my local club. Walking rugby helped keep my general fitness up and I was playing two times a week, but at the start of April, I had a stroke. I was fairly fit, a non-smoker and vegetarian, but addicted to cheese and onion pasties, cakes and baguettes, so I was a bit overweight. When I arrived back at the rugby club one Tuesday morning in May, the welcome I got was absolutely astounding. I had been visited by club members at the hospital and received cards, but nothing compared to seeing everybody on the pitch. Three weeks further on, I am managing to play a whole game twice a week, can walk five miles a day, I passed my vision test and can drive. You can access the full story on the RFU website.

Updated 20:20 - 29 Aug 2019 by john blower

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Schedule
Sat 6 Apr
h
Northwich 1st Blackburn
League 15:00
Sat 13 Apr
h
Northwich 2nd Chester 3rd XV
League 15:00

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