This year the Dragons Wheelchair team had great success at all the competitions that they entered - and we celebrated that success with a special picture at half-time during our BKT United Rugby Championship clash with Edinburgh.
Back in May, Dragons won Judgement Day during Euros 23 at the Principality Stadium beating Ospreys.
The Dragons were also involved in three league weekends. In June they headed off to Stoke Mandeville for the first of those league weekends, remaining unbeaten winning five out of five games. The players gave their all and were well placed to win the division and gain promotion to a higher league.
July saw another competition as the team headed off to Swansea to the Welsh Open where the team were crowned Welsh wheelchair champions. On the day the Dragons won all their matches again playing against some very experienced teams.
A second league weekend saw a trip back to Stoke Mandeville and the journey to the higher league continued. On the day the Dragons won three out of five games, narrowly missing out on winning all five games. Every match was heavily contested.
Our last league weekend was in Stoke on Trent. The team went there knowing that only another league weekend win would get us back to the top of the table and promotion. Nerves were expected but under the pressure of getting the right result the Dragons won all four games to be crowned league champions and promotion as accomplished.
At the same time as our league weekends, the Dragons Eheelchair rugby was set to grow and develop further. During the busiest time of the season, we started a youth team to provide wheelchair rugby for the next generation of wheelchair rugby players.
After the youth team was up and running there was more development as the Dragons formed another variation of Wheelchair rugby this time with a 4’s team. The 4’s team took to the court in October for their first outing. It was off to Worcester. In a new variant the team played three games, losing two narrowly in end to end matches, and winning one match against the Ospreys.
The team did really well managing matches that had a four quarters of six minutes with a clock that stopped for each stop in play. It meant games lasted at least thirty to forty minutes. The Dragons players gave their all and pushed themselves to their limits.
The Dragons Wheelchair team have grown to be the biggest team in any of the regions in Wales. We have 20 players and eight support staff who volunteer at training and at competitions. Since playing at the Euros 2023 in Cardiff we have developed as a team and as a club. Our game on the pitch has gone up a level, and even received praise for our development from other teams and GBWR.
All of this would not be possible without the great support from the Dragons Community team who have formed a great relationship with the wheelchair rugby team and we look forward to their visit to training for friendly competition as community staff take to the pitch. Talking to other clubs we really appreciate how we are looked after and helped by community staff, and this support has been warmly welcomed by the club.
It has been a great year for the team and we know that there will be bigger challenges ahead. As for now we are going to enjoy our successes, but at the same time we get back to training and back to developing the club for future successes and for the promotion to a higher league next year. We would like to thank everyone who has helped us this year to achieve this success.
Thank you to all the players, support staff, committee and Dragons community for their commitment to the sport but in particular to the Dragons Wheelchair rugby club.
I have been with this team for over four years and this is the best year so far. The team stuck together through the covid pandemic checking in on each other daily, having Zoom meetings weekly. This team is so strong on and off the pitch. We are here for each other daily; we arrange social events to help those who need that greater sense of community and it is better to have that than at a rugby club.
Some of the team join other Dragons inclusions training and attend their games, supporting the wider inclusion of the Dragon Community. We see ourselves as one big happy family. Our youngest player is five years old and our oldest is 68 years old. We are thankful that we could share this success with you at the Dragons first home game with Edinburgh. Joining us was a player who has represented Wales in rugby league, Alex Powell. Also, we have Dragons Wheelchair committee member, chaplain and welfare officer (Darran Dowey) who has represented Ireland in rugby league, and Darran is a qualified GBWR referee who keeps all the players right during training and during our tournaments.
It was great to be with you for the Edinburgh game and if you are interested in Dragons Wheelchair rugby or know someone who is please get in touch with us or community staff who will point you in the right direction. Thank you for your support and BRING YOUR FIRE.
For more information on Dragons Wheelchair Rugby click HERE
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