Find a didi rugby class in South Warwickshire at Kenilworth Castle Farm Recreation Centre
Introduce your children to rugby at a young age with didi Rugby classes at Kenilworth Castle Farm Recreation Centre in South Warwickshire. There are three age groups: 18 months to three years, three to four and four to six.
Our program is designed to get kids active, teach them new skills and improve their co-ordination, speed and balance. It will also help them learn social skills while they have lots of fun in a positive, safe and friendly environment.
These classes are ideal for children living in: Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Southam, Whitnash, Statford-Upon-Avon, Baginton and Henley in Arden.
Find a didi rugby class in Nottingham at St Wilfrid’s Church Drive
Introduce your children to rugby at a young age with didi rugby classes at Nottingham St Wilfrid’s Church Drive. There are three age groups: 18 months to three years, three to four and four to six.
Our program is designed to get kids active, teach them new skills and improve their co-ordination, speed and balance. It will also help them learn social skills while they have lots of fun in a positive, safe and friendly environment.
These classes are ideal for children living in: Nottingham, Wilford, Lenton, The Meadows, Lenton Abbey, Ryelands and Clifton.
Four didi rugby head coaches and franchise owners will be going head-to-head on the pitch when Crewe & Nantwich Ladies face Kenilworth Women in the Intermediate Plate on Saturday 9 February.
The owner of didi rugby’s South Warwickshire classes, Kiri Bennett will be making the trip north with her Kenilworth team to take on a Crewe & Nantwich side that contains both Ros Wiggins and Mollie Latham who are coaches in the Stone and Stafford and Lichfield and Cannock areas.
Crewe and Nantwich Ladies trio Katie Heirene, Ros Wiggins and Mollie Latham prepare to face fellow didi rugby coach Kiri Bennett in a cup match
The home side will also feature Katie Heirene, who runs both the didi rugby Crewe and Nantwich area as well as classes in Chester.
And with the home side defending the title they won last year, there will be plenty on the line.
Kiri and her Kenilworth team-mates ply their trade in Women’s Championship Midlands 2 and are currently in fourth place, just one point off second.
Seven wins
Crewe & Nantwich play in Women’s Championship North 2 and are also enjoying a superb season with seven wins in 10 games taking them up to second in the table.
Ros says it is a game they have all been looking forward to for a long time.
“Having come second in the 2018 Intermediate Plate and then going on to win it last year, we are really excited to go through the stages this year and see if we can take the title again,” she said.
“And what has made it even more exciting is the prospect of playing against our didi rugby team-mate, Kiri in this round.”
Kiri added: “I am really excited for the cup match against Crewe and Nantwich. It will be great to play against some fellow didi owners,” she said.
“We are at a similar place in our leagues so it will be really interesting, and I’m sure, very competitive!”
Video: England captain and didi rugby ambassador Sarah Hunter speaks at didi rugby’s annual conference…
Find a didi rugby class in Crewe at Crewe and Nantwich Worleston Village Hall
Introduce your children to rugby at a young age with didi rugby classes at Crewe and Worleston Village Hall in Worleston . There are three age groups: 18 months to three years, three to four and four to six.
Our program is designed to get kids active, teach them new skills and improve their co-ordination, speed and balance. It will also help them learn social skills while they have lots of fun in a positive, safe and friendly environment.
These classes are ideal for children living in: Worleston, Reaseheath, Nantwich, Crewe, Poole, Wistaston, Willaston and Sandbach.
England captain and didi rugby ambassador Sarah Hunter spoke passionately about her career and the personal drive she has needed throughout it when she addressed franchise owners at didi rugby’s annual conference in Hinckley.
The 34-year-old, who has an incredible 119 caps ahead of this year’s upcoming Women’s Six Nations has been a didi rugby ambassador since the early days of the business.
She played the early days of her career with didi rugby CEO and founder Vicky Macqueen when Vicky was coming to the end of her time as an international.
The Loughborough Lightning No.8 said she was happy to break away from her preparations for the Six Nations to address franchise owners from across the UK and give them some ideas of what it takes to get to the top – and try to stay there.
“We spoke about my experience in rugby and how I have managed to achieve a few things but we also spoke about the setbacks I have been through and how sport and business often correlate on that front,” said Sarah.
Ambassador
“It is often a rollercoaster ride overcoming setbacks and then setting goals to remind yourself what you want to achieve and how you are going to get it back on track.
“I feel passionately about didi rugby. It was an easy decision to get involved with it after I had heard Vicky’s ideas.
“When I saw her vision, that sold it for me. Not just for the fundamentals around getting young children to be fit and active – but also to help them interact with other kids. That bigger picture is very important for young children.
“I love rugby and have played since I was nine but I didn’t have that opportunity to play it at a young age. For young children to learn all these skills at didi rugby and catch the rugby bug is important.
World Cup winner
World Cup winner Sarah was awarded an MBE in 2016 for her services to the game and also became World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year in the same year.
“It was amazing that Sarah found the time to come and speak to our didi franchise holders at such a busy time for her,” said Vicky.
“She has always been a fantastic advocate of what we are trying to do and we are very grateful for her continued support not only to our classes but also our franchise holders and coaches who are implementing the vision we have to get children active while having fun and growing in confidence.”
Howzat? didi cricket classes are launching this month
didi cricket classes are being launched in January with a whole new set of skills available for your child to learn in a fun and relaxed environment.
Following the success of didi rugby over the past 18 months, cricket classes will be lovingly taught against a backdrop of similar goals and values.
The first didi cricket classes are being launched at Stoke Orchard Community Centre, Gloucestershire on 26 January and will be run by an already popular figure in the area, coach Keith Smith.
Fun, games and activities will have a cricket theme for children aged from 18 months to 6 years and involve bats, balls and stumps that are especially made for playing with kids.
Get your kids active, improve their hand/eye coordination, social skills and self confidence in a friendly environment with fully qualified coaches. Held in a great indoor location with a cafe and shop.
If you would like to find out more information or book your child in for a FREE taster session at the Stoke Orchard launch, contact head coach keith.smith@didirugby.com.
Contact info@didirugby.com for national information on didi cricket.
Watch out for more didi cricket venues popping up during 2020 and with limited space available at new sessions, if you would like to secure your child’s place at a class in your area, please email us to register your interest.
didi rugby Reading coaching duo Donna Clark and Clare Swadling explain why their classes are both ‘hilarious’ and ‘very fulfilling’.
Along, with Craig Hunter, the duo have helped build an incredible success story in the Berkshire and Reading area not only for their franchise but for the hundreds of local children at schools and classes in the area.
Those kids are now benefitting from the values that didi rugby promotes and enjoying being active, having fun and gaining in confidence.
Speaking at one of their partner clubs, Reading RFC, ahead of a series of didi rugby sessions, Clare said: “We just want to make sure that the children have a chance to play rugby.
“Running around after small people is hilarious and very fulfilling. They are brilliant to be around and they just love you during the classes. It’s like having a group of puppy dogs! For those 40 minutes, they just idolise you.
50 Classes operating
“I love it here and the atmosphere is so different from where I have come from. I think we have 50 classes operating now and we have only been going for 18 months.”
Donna added: “The spread of didi rugby down here has been huge. We have exploded into schools as well and we are offering session every day of the week.
“Those who are too old for didi rugby are moving onto tag rugby and we love that continuity for children to keep them playing the sport.
“We are also involved with special needs schools and have links with the Berkshire Banshees wheelchair team. We try and support all sorts of areas. There’s loads going on.
Reading rugby
“We have an excellent relationship here with Reading RFC but it’s one big family and one big network to attract children and their parents into the sport.
“From speaking to the parents, the children love it. They wake up and say: ‘Is it didi rugby today?’.
“There is a real rapport, they enjoy it and that is what makes them want to come back week after week.”
Find a didi rugby class in Reading at Loddon Valley Leisure Centre
Introduce your children to rugby at a young age with didi rugby classes at Loddon Valley Leisure Centre in Earley, Reading. There are three age groups: 18 months to three years, three to four and four to six.
Our program is designed to get kids active, teach them new skills and improve their co-ordination, speed and balance. It will also help them learn social skills while they have lots of fun in a positive, safe and friendly environment.
These classes are ideal for children living in: Earley, Lower Earley, Whitley, Whitley Wood, Shinfield, Tilehurst, Caversham, Sonning, Woodley, Calcot, Twyford, Southcote, West Reading and Prospect Park.
The founder and CEO of didi rugby, Vicky Macqueen, has become an RFU Level 4 coach after 18 months of study.
It means she is one of less than 10 women in the country to hold such a prestigious coaching position, which is designed and delivered by the game’s governing body, the Rugby Union.
She joins fellow Level 4-holders Wasps director of rugby Giselle Mather and soon-to-be Exeter Chiefs Women’s head coach, Susie Appleby, who is also a didi rugby franchise holder.
Although Vicky said she would like to get involved in similar high-level coaching one day, she said her 100% commitment at the moment was to the continued growth of didi rugby.
And she believes that large parts of the information she learned studying to become an RFU Level 4 coach will help grow and improve didi rugby in the future.
“It has been an amazing process with so much to learn and I feel really privileged to have completed it,” said Vicky. “It has taught me a lot in terms of rugby leadership but for didi rugby too because there is lots of coaching, management and psychology involved.
Level 4 coach
“There are so many aspects to achieving Level 4 and it has been a great educational experience for me.
“There is a massive overlap between business and sport and this has bought everything together for me to help enhance didi rugby.
“The growth of didi means I need to be 100% involved in the business and the mentoring of franchise holders at the minute. But I love coaching and being out on the field so taking on a role with a club in the future in definitely in my sights…if I get the time!
Vicky was approached by the RFU to join their coach educator team a couple of years ago and that is another string to her bow in terms of helping and mentoring coaches of the future.
didi rugby plays an active part in helping clubs implement that framework and has developed formal links with clubs in England to create a natural pathway for children to keep playing the game when they graduate from didi rugby age groups.
With Vicky designing all of the programmes and care at didi rugby, parents can be assured that their kids are in very good hands and are being taught all of the right things if they come to a didi rugby class.
Find a didi rugby class in Leicester at Old Newtonians Rugby Football Club
Introduce your children to rugby at a young age with didi rugby classes at Old Newtonians Rugby Football Club in Leicester Forest East.
There are three age groups: 18 months to three years, three to four and four to six.
Our programme is designed to get kids active, teach them new skills and improve their co-ordination, speed and balance. It will also help them learn social skills while they have lots of fun in a positive, safe and friendly environment.
These classes are ideal for people living in Leicester Forest East, Braunstone Town, Desford, Thurlaston, Earl Shilton, Kirby Muxloe and Thorpe Astley.
