Heath celebrates youth across the ages

This is a significant contribution to the health and welfare of the local Mid Sussex youth population and plays an important role in the social and physical development of rugby playing youngsters aged 6 to 18.

Celebrating their achievement across the different age groups starting with the youngest minis, the Most Improved Player in the Under 6s is Oliver Nash-Henry who has developed since last September from an initial reluctant participant to someone who has an obvious enjoyment of his rugby. The U6 Player of the Year is Henry Maryan whose boundless enthusiasm, non-stop energy and elusive running means that he is definitely one to watch in the coming years.

The Under 8s had a large squad this season and awarded two Players of the Season recognising the emerging talent of both Ben Lucas and Arlo Bird. The Under 9s also supports a large squad and although all players have had a great season, after much debate the coaches recognised Cassius Crawford as Player of the Season and Ben Archibald as Most Improved Player.

The Under 12s at Heath is a thriving age group with more than 50 players currently in the squad.

This means that the age group can always field two squads to play in regular league matches as well as friendly fixtures across the South of England and in London, so there is plenty of rugby for everyone.

A number of new players joined the group this season, some of whom having enjoyed their first experience of rugby in Year 7 at their new secondary schools, wanted to play more rugby at weekends at the Club. For the U12 Hurricanes squad, Harry Mather is California Raisins Player of the Season after performing at a consistently high standard and making a huge contribution to the team.

Harry is a ferocious and technically superb tackler who loves the physical aspect of the game of rugby, inspiring his team mates by never taking a backward step. For the U12 Spitfires, Oscar Clark is the California Raisins Player of the Season since in his first full season of rugby Oscar has developed extremely quickly into a very talented rugby player - fast in attack, strong in defence, unselfish, with good game awareness.

Both U12 teams have enjoyed another very successful season, with strong performances on the pitch throughout the year showing that the group is developing into one of the strongest in Sussex. The highlight of the year for the Hurricanes was perhaps their excellent performance in the Land Rover Cup played at London Irish RFC earlier in the season, where they played superbly to reach the semi-final stage, only losing out narrowly to the eventual winners Rosslyn Park.

HHRFC adheres to the core rugby values of TREDS - Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Respect - and welcomes new players of all ages and abilities at any time.

To find out more visit www.hhrfc.co.uk or email rugby@hhrfc.co.uk and once rugby returns, go along to Whitemans Green.