First ever Swiss Women’s rugby development camp held for over 120 girls and women

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Winterthur, 25.03.2017 – The Swiss Rugby Union (FSR) held its first ever Union-Sponsored and coached Women’s Rugby Development camp, as part of its overall 2016-17 women’s development project. The first phase of this project was the introduction of development tournaments starting in September 2016, where new women’s teams as well as established clubs’ second sides and young players could gain valuable playing experience outside the established, competitive Women’s National League (NLF).



Now the Swiss Rugby Union kicked off the 2nd phase of its women’s rugby development project, with the introduction of basic-skills camps open to all players, but focused on newer and younger players from all clubs. These will act as a counterpart and addition to the already existing elite camps which are held regularly within the national team selection and preparation framework.



The day started out with a joint training session for all development players, held by World Rugby Level 3 certified FSR coach Veronika Muehlhofer, with the strong support of all club coaches present. Players were divided into mixed groups, and went through games and drills focusing on 8 basic skills or areas of play: Tackling, Rucking, Mauling, Scrummaging, Passing, Lineouts, Defense, Attack.



The training session was followed by a tournament in the afternoon, where players were able to put onto the pitch what they had learned in the morning, and in each match one young lady could try her hand at refereeing, in a new double-refereeing system allowing young players to give officiating a try.



126 players participated in the training and tournament, which for the first time ever featured a separate U18 girls’ division, with 3 teams participating.



“This represents an important next step in the development of women’s rugby in Switzerland, where rugby as a whole and women’s rugby in particularly is a small fringe sport, with great potential for growth”, comments Christa Herrmann, Swiss Rugby Union Women’s Development Manager and newly elected member of the Rugby Europe Women’s Commission.



The Swiss Rugby Union currently has 5000 licensed players, of which 400 are women or girls. In 2013 the Union had 2000 licensed players of which 100 were women.



The successful Women’s Rugby Day was hosted by RC Winterthur, and organized by Christa Herrmann and the FSR Women’s Commission. The FSR would like to thank RC Winterthur for their work on hosting the event.



For more information or to support the development of Women’s Rugby in Switzerland, please contact women(AT)suisserugby.com by e-mail.



Photos by Muriel Kehl & Veronika Muehlhofer



