Last wednesday evening (22nd November) was another highlight in the short but impressive history of Hertforshire's Girls Rugby U17 squad when they met Margaret Alphonsi, Saracens and England No7 for a training session at the University of Hertfordshire in hatfield..
"Margaret is a fantastic role model for these young players," said Amanda Bate, Rugby Development Officer with The Herts Sports Partnership. "She proves to them that a person can work and study and still play top level rugby." She is currently studying for her Masters in Sports Psychology, and is also Rugby Development Officer for Saracens (Amateur )RFC, as well as fitting in training on 5 days each week.
Maragaret talked to the girls about the importance of goal setting, in an introduction to sports psychology. She showed them how they could raise their game as individuals and as a team through goal setting.
The County team have an important tournament on the 3rd December and set the team goal of not conceding any tries as well as winning the tournament - and not impossible target by any means considering that in their two year history the team have never lost a game, and never conceeded at try!
But the tournament - at Westcliff in Essex - will be their biggest challenge yet, as they will be up against teams from Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Eastern Counties (Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire), East Midlands (Bedfordshire & Northants), and Yorkshire - as well as their own county 2nd team who will have something to prove!
Margaret's talk on Sports Psychology is just one of a series in the athlete support programme run by the Herts Sports Partnership. For more details contact f.castree@herts.ac.uk
