Ben Youngs Masterclass

Year 6 rugby enthusiast, William L attended Ben Youngs Masterclass at Gresham’s and had the most amazing experience. The coaches took the players through a variety of strength and conditioning, skills, drills and game sessions. It was very hands on and Ben gave Will a one-to-one session on passing from the floor! 

Well done Will for taking up this great opportunity and thank you for the recount of your day:

"On Sunday the 30th of April I attended a rugby masterclass with Ben Youngs at Gresham’s school. Ben is a world class scrum half with 122 caps for England and is a member of the Leicester Tigers squad.

The day started with a welcome from Mr Douglas Robb who is the headmaster at Gresham’s school. He then introduced me to Ben who was friendly and encouraging. We were then spilt into four groups and my group’s first activity was a session with Gresham’s strength and conditioning coaches in their outstanding gym. I really enjoyed learning and partaking in new exercises designed to boost on-pitch performance. It was very interesting how the coaches explained how weight training can be safe and beneficial to young athletes. Based on this, I am really keen to develop my own weight training ahead of next season and our Year 7 and 8 tour to The Netherlands.

The final session of the morning involved passing drills from Ben during which I was lucky enough to get a one-on-one instruction on passing from the ground. This was really important to me because I have taken up the role of scrum half. In the knockout passing competition I made it to the last five out of over thirty.

After a delicious lunch the four groups merged together to play a touch tournament. The games were very fast and competitive with lots of positive encouragement from Ben and all the coaches and I were really happy to be able to put into practice everything we had learned earlier in the day.

Finally we had a Q&A session with Ben in the auditorium, where we learned all about his career and advice on how to become a professional rugby player. I was delighted to receive a signed Gresham’s rugby ball and the chance to have a photo with Ben.

I am very grateful to Ben and Gresham’s for hosting the day and to St Hugh’s for setting me up with this memorable opportunity."

By William L, Year 6