All throughout the school half-term break, the Dragons Community department were extremely busy going out into the region in an ‘All Roads Lead To Ebbw Vale’ initiative to promote the Edinburgh game at Eugene Cross Park.
It was a week packed full of exciting opportunities for Mike Sage, Janice Chappell and the rest of the team, starting with a ‘Positive Futures’ event in conjunction with Newport Live on the 3G surface at Spytty.
Over 200 young people attended the event around Newport Velodrome which also offered activities such as football, tennis, basketball and climbing.
The newly designed Dragons passing cage was the star attraction at the event, with several people trying to win goodies, including none other than the Gwent Police!
Those prizes included things like matchday Dragons programmes, posters and much more - with those lucky enough to get all six passes through the cage awarded tickets for the match against Edinburgh.
Dragons star Leon Brown was also on hand to give some expert tips to the youngsters who were desperate to show off their skills in-front of their idol, while Leon was also joined at the event by other local sporting stars who are ambassadors of the event.
Gwent boxer Sean McGoldrick tweeted: “Fantastic to be part of the Positive Futures youth engagement event with Leon Brown. Honoured to be ambassadors for an organisation who are putting so much work into developing sport and young people in Newport.”
Leon has been an ambassador with Newport Live and Positive Futures for some time now, which is a programme designed to use sport as a way to divert young people away from crime and anti-social behaviour.
A spokesperson for Newport Live said: "When he’s not on the pitch or training in the gym, Leon Brown volunteers his spare time as a peer mentor with Positive Futures. Leon, from the Maesglas area, predominantly works with young people who have disengaged from their school environment and have been specifically referred to the project because of their behavioural issues."
On Tuesday, the Dragons first-team held an open training session at Ebbw Vale where supporters had the opportunity to watch and meet their idols ahead of the match.
The passing cage was also present again and in high demand, with participants this time allowed to win shirts emblazoned with the logo of both the Dragons and Ebbw Vale RFC.
It was then straight over to Festival Park where there was a meet & greet event with fly-halves Gavin Henson and Dorian Jones.
Dragons Community tweeted: “Cannot thank Gavin Henson and Dorian Jones enough for their support today. Amazing ambassadors for Dragons rugby with over two hours of autographs, pictures and talking to our supporters. Proud of our region.”
Rob Bayliss tweeted: “What a great afternoon over Festival Park. Brilliant to meet a couple of the Dragons players, Gavin Henson and Dorian Jones, wishing you all the best for the rest of the season.”
Wednesday saw the Dragons Community Department venture out into Caldicot for a sell-out skills event in partnership with Monmouthshire Sport Development.
That saw 40 children attend the skills camp at Caldicot Leisure Centre and provided an excellent combination of skills, drills and coaching for individuals who wanted to enhance their rugby knowledge and develop as players.
Henri Williams and Barney Nightingale were also on hand to represent the first-team and join in with the tag rugby competition. Guess who had the most competitive streak? Well, Barney’s team won by six points!
Dragons Community tweeted: “A superb first Dragons rugby skills camp in partnership with Monmouthshire Sport Development. Staff were amazing, and participants were first class. Top listening skills, bags of effort and loads of smiles on faces.”
Monmouthshire Sport Development tweeted: “A fantastic piece of partnership work today with 40 children aged five – twelve taking part in our rugby camp with Dragons Community. Keep an eye out for future events and more locations.”
Tredegar was the next location for the Community Department on their tour of the region, this time helping with a ‘Six Nations Tots’ rugby session at Tredegar Leisure Centre.
Dragons stars Luke Garrett and Jared Rosser as-well as Dragons Ladies player Keighlee Williams were the players to help Mike and Janice deliver their engagement, as all eagerly involved themselves with the several children who turned up to participate.
This time a smaller passing board was implemented in order to help the potential Dragons stars of the future develop their skills; of which there was plenty on show in abundance by everyone in Tredegar.
Dragons Community tweeted: “Nice reception at Tredegar Leisure Centre today, great to engage with our young supporters. Big thanks to our Dragons rugby & Dragons Ladies players for Q&A, autographs and skills #Inspire.”
Each participant thoroughly deserved their Dragons flag, try card and other items of memorabilia - many of which was clearly on show at Eugene Cross Park.
That’s because on Friday, the week culminated in matchday against Edinburgh.
Over 300 children composed the Guard of Honour and half-time Lap of Honour, yet another new record for this spectacle away from Rodney Parade.
Everyone battled through the -8 degrees weather conditions at a bitterly cold Eugene Cross Park; and made it a great spectacle for the Dragons squad to run out through for their penultimate home game of the season.
Abercarn mini & juniors tweeted: “Great night at Ebbw Vale watching Dragons rugby vs Edinburgh rugby. Despite the wind-chill, had a great time supporting the boys again. Thanks to Mike Sage, Janice Chappell and the rest of Dragons Community for hosting us #RegionOnTheRoad.”
Ryan Robinson – Dragons Community Ambassador
