The Elite Insurance Sevens Series is a unique tournament giving Under-13 schools teams from across the East of England the opportunity to compete in one of the newest Olympic sports.
Some of these teams may not have played Rugby Sevens before, which is why the Northampton Saints community team offers specialist coaching to help the schools prepare for the shortened version of the game.
This week the club's community coaches headed to Cambridgeshire, with three more sessions taking place in Suffolk next week.
The Elite Insurance Sevens Series itself starts on March 11th, with the Saints now able to confirm the locations for all five regional tournaments.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE Shelford RFC; Tuesday, March 11th
BEDFORDSHIRE Bedford Athletic RFC; Thursday, March 13th
SUFFOLK Stowmarket RFC; Tuesday, March 18th
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Franklin's Gardens; Wednesday, March 19th
OXFORDSHIRE Sibford School; Tuesday, April 1st
The winners and runners-up from these regional tournaments will then be invited to Franklin's Gardens to compete in a Finals Day on Thursday, April 24th.
Well over 40 schools have signed up to take part in the Elite Insurance Sevens Series, a dramatic increase on last year's inaugural tournament.
Saints Elite Player Development Group manager Ross Stewart has helped deliver the coaching sessions, and he says that the enthusiasm shown by the young players has been infectious.
“Rugby Sevens is a very specialist sport and it can take some time to adjust to having fewer players and therefore more space than a normal game,” he said. “But the youngsters have approached the sessions really well, showing some good skills and a positive attitude.
“Hopefully they will all take plenty of things away from their sessions with us, and when the Elite Insurance Sevens Series gets underway in a couple of weeks' time we will see a high standard of rugby from them.
“It's definitely something to look forward to!”
One of Northampton Saints' Elite Sponsors, Elite Insurance has evolved rapidly to become one of Europe's leading insurers. A commitment to continual expansion and acquisition enables Elite to offer clients unrivalled expertise in many niche areas of insurance, delivering products quickly, conveniently and competitively.
Elite Insurance is also dedicated to supporting youth rugby in the Eastern Counties and East Midlands, and after a successful inaugural Sevens Series in 2013 the company committed itself to a further three years of sponsorship.
For more information about how Elite Insurance can help your company head to www.elite-insurance.co.uk
