Pete has been a player member of the club since 1983 and has enjoyed spells with Bishop Auckland and Sedgefield collecting division champion medals and cup winning medals throughout his career. He has been involved with Aycliffe coaching on and off for several years and helped develop a youth team in the 90’s from which some of those young lads went on to feature for Darlington, Durham City and Darlington Mowden Park over the years. Pete has recently been involved with youth coaching at Bishop Auckland. He has acquired Level 3 coaching standard with the RFU. He decided to return to his home club to offer his vast experience as coach, after deciding to retire from playing and help develop a squad at Aycliffe with promotion from Durham and Northumberland division 3 in mind. He hopes to consolidate the current coaching staff and club physio to build a mixed squad of youth and experienced players.
Pete said, “I’m looking forward to this challenge and would love to help put Newton Aycliffe firmly back on the rugby map, and show the teams beyond South West Durham area we can be a tough team to beat. I’m really hoping to work with a big squad, as some old heads like me have retired so we are looking for new players. Our strength is our speedy backs but we are looking to improve the all-round performance levels as well as strengthen the forwards. If anyone fancies trying out rugby or has experience but not currently attached to a club come down and introduce yourselves and join in with some fitness sessions and then we will bring in ball handling skills before we move on to the contact and tactical training closer to the start of the new season. The more the merrier”.
Pete is also interested in players who are leaving school this year who would like to play the sport at club level. Special training sessions will be set aside to coincide with the current squad and players who reach the age of 17 will be eligible to play senior rugby once they have been assessed on their ability to play at that level, by the RFU.
Please contact club public relations officer Stuart McLean mobile 07812 372675 or contact him by e-mail: stuiemadgiraffe@yahoo.co.uk to register for this summer’s pre-season coaching sessions. The new training program starts Saturday June 15th 1.30 pm at Newton Aycliffe Sports Club, Moore Lane.
