England flanker is guest at Midlands West Tag to Twickenham Finals Day
14/06/10 by Paul Bolton
ENGLAND flanker Sarah Hunter will be one of the guests of honour at the Midlands West regional finals of the Tag to Twickenham programme at Dudley Kingswinford's Heathbrook ground on June 17.
Hunter, who works as a Rugby Football Union Community Rugby Coach in Birmingham, plays her club rugby for Lichfield and is in England's squad for the Women's World Cup which will be played in England later this year.
Hunter, who has already won 18 international caps, will be joined at Dudley Kingswinford by England Sevens and England A scrum-half Sarah Guest who plays her club rugby for Worcester.
The Midlands West finals day will feature schools from across North Midlands, Staffordshire and Warwickshire who have progressed from local qualifying tournaments. Two schools will qualify for places in the national finals at Rugby School on July 7.
The Tag to Twickenham programme is the competition pathway for primary schools playing tag rugby. The programme incorporates coaching delivered under the RFU's Tag Rugby programme, which is sponsored by Yazoo, and the local, county, regional and national festivals pathway that is run by Child Victims of Crime in partnership with the Police.
RFU Yazoo Tag Rugby reached the landmark of one million primary school children attending sessions in late 2008; just over two years after the sponsorship started. Local festivals follow these coaching sessions, providing the opportunity for schools to link with their local clubs. Working in tandem with these festivals, CVOC's Tag to Twickenham includes a programme of community engagement with Police and Community Support Officers delivering tag rugby in their linked schools. Over 600 officers are trained each year between August and April by the RFU National Tag Rugby Development Officer. They use tag rugby as the vehicle to engage young people before delivering vital personal safety and citizenship messages through the Tackle Safety resource.
Child Victims of Crime is also the charity of the British Police rugby section.
The Yazoo and CVOC programmes join up under the Tag to Twickenham banner to provide a national competition. All schools receiving coaching sessions are invited to take part in the county festival pathway and then winning schools progress to 10 regional Tag to Twickenham festivals.
Schools taking part in the Midlands West events are: St Stephen's St Edward's Junior HS, Stafford Preparatory, Flax Hill Junior School, St Ann, Kingsland Primary, Coalbrookdale & Ironbridge Primary, Alvechurch Middle School, Northleigh Primary, St Lawrence Primary (Church Stretton), Ashperton Primary, Coleshill Heath Primary, Coundon Primary, Stivichall Primary, St Mary & St Margaret's Primary, Rakegate Primary, Castlecroft Primary, St Joseph's School, Allesley Primary, Christ the King, St Gregory's Catholic Primary, Blandford Mere Primary, Pennine Way Junior School and Hasbury Primary School.
