Life in Lockdown left the doorstep, and heading on to the pitch to visit Newcastle Ravens during a social distanced training session to catch up with the team to find out how they have been dealing with the pandemic. Mike shares all the gossip from pitch side.
The Newcastle Ravens are an LGBT inclusive Rugby Team in the North East
After an incredibly successful season where our 1st team was leading the Northern Division of the IGR, lockdown begun ending the season prematurely.
We went from seeing each other at training and many of us had been planning to travel to Canada together to compete in an international rugby tournament – to speaking on Zoom.
The transition was challenging for many members who were unable to spend time with their friends and family but as a club we stuck together getting through challenging times by keeping in touch through various means.
“We held our end of season awards virtually for the first time ever and organised various fitness challenges and interactive game shows for us”
Our outgoing committee were really thoughtful and made sure to check in with each member to see how everyone was doing and if they need any additional support.
With a club of over 60, naturally we had different challenges – some were furloughed, some adjusted to working from home, some had university disrupted and some were uncertain about the future of their jobs.
“We also ensured that those that worked as key workers were appreciated such as delivering cupcakes to NHS workers within the club to share with their colleagues.”
Now that lockdown is lifting, we can train in small groups of less than 6 while adhering to social distancing which is a good opportunity to exercise and practice drills with other members of the team.
The committee are monitoring the situation and we are looking forward to our full return to Rugby as soon as possible.
Our club grew a lot over the last year with our formation of the 2nds team and once things are a bit more normal, we look forward to welcoming new people into the Ravens family.
Find out more and join the Ravens
We’re holding an introduction to touch rugby on 12th September and we’ll be starting our free six week bootcamp for new members on Wednesday 23rd September – get in touch, if you’d like to join in with the fun!
