Hundreds of children take part in rugby festival

A rugby festival has been held for more than 200 pupils from 20 schools.

Students from schools in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Somerset met players from Bristol Bears' men and women's teams at the event, which was held at the club's High Performance Centre on Thursday.

The festival was put on by the Bristol Bears, in partnership with the Cabot Learning Federation, to celebrate rugby and ambitions in the sport.

Awa, 11, said: "I love how rugby is a team game, the rules are very complicated and unique compared to other sports, it's very different."

The children were able to ask the Bristol Bears players, including stars like Ellis Genge, questions about their experience of the sport and ask for advice.

Sureya, 10, said: "I'd been looking forward to playing tag rugby with people I've never played with before and meet schools I've never met.

"I liked meeting as many of the players as I could."

Chief operating officer of Bristol Bears, Tom Tainton, said: "We want to show young people that rugby is a fun sport to engage with, to support the Bristol Bears on weekends, and just see what rugby can do for them."

He said the Bears want to showcase "that rugby is a game for all" irrespective of gender, faith or background.

Andrew Bell is the partnerships manager at the Cabot Learning Federation, a group of 35 schools in Bristol, Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Somerset.

It includes more than 18,000 young people in the city from a wide range of backgrounds and demographics.

He said if the day inspires the children to "just be great at something", even if not rugby, then "that is the goal".

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