A group of twenty representatives from the Club attended the annual "Colchester Sports Personality of the Year Awards" on Monday 24th November at the Weston Community Centre.
It was a great evening with over 300 people in attendance , all the sponsors for each award and delegates representing a huge variety of sports that take place in our town; swimming, netball, handball, lacrosse, football, athletics, cricket, bowls, fencing, boxing and of course the best sport of all rugby.

Ross Cowie had nominated the Colchester RFC for the "Community Sports Club of the Year and thanks to his "citation" (see below) we won!

NOMINATION FOR COMMUNITY SPORTS CLUB OF THE YEAR
Colchester Rugby Club now runs one of the largest rugby youth sections in the UK, regularly fielding 12 sides for boys in the year groups from U13 through to U18, with 2 age groups actually running 3 sides. Few clubs aim to run 2 sides per age group; we are not aware of any others running 3.
The mini section regularly runs at least 3, if not more smaller sided teams for each of the younger ages from under 6s through to under 12s.We estimate that 700 to 750 youngsters are involved on a regular basis.
Whilst the club always aims to do well in Eastern Counties and Suffolk Cups, and in local festivals, and with a large number of boys regularly representing Eastern Counties, the club’s philosophy is not win matches at all costs, but to provide rugby for all, to develop the skills of all boys, and to ensure that boys can enjoy rugby at their own standard – hence the recent dramatic increase in numbers.
We always aim to have fully qualified coaches for all teams, and regularly encourage CPD updates for coaches; we have invested heavily in refereeing in order that boys can play in a safe end equitable environment. There are regular breaks in the playing activity on Sundays to allow for coaching development of the players.
The club policy is to support all sides with volunteer first aiders – an update course is organised each year. In addition, the club employs a qualified physio each Sunday morning to cover home games for U13U18s, and for all U18 away matches.
There are around 25 girls at U13, U15 and U18 regularly being coached on Wednesday evenings and Sundays, and they play their first matches this coming Sunday.
The success of the youth section is reflected with around 30 of the 36 players each week in the club’s currently very successful 1st XV and 2nd XVs being “home grown”, a product of the club’s youth section. Few clubs playing at “level 6” can quite boast this statistic.