Staying in touch with grassroots rugby

Back from holiday, Sam was glad he could claim Old Spike Peckham keys from Paulin who came around earlier to help open up the store.

We had Maria joining them before Tiernan, who was coming for his second good deed, but first group run showed up. We welcomed him in and told him all about GoodGym. Emma and Cecilia arrived shortly afterwards, but we didn't know if Benjamin would meet us here or at the task. We did with James. So as 18:45 arrived, Sam just got going with his speech and his ice-breaker question first which was to do with UN's World Day against Child Labour, which was today, but he asked a more light-hearted question: "What were your favourite and/or worst chores as a child?"

It seems like washing up dishes, ironing and cleaning were the general chores, but getting £2 for a car wash seems like a good deal. However, it was Benjamin who lived in the Lakes and had to fetch coal that topped the worst chores...

Sowing the dreams to form a GoodGym Touch Rugby team

Deciding to opt for a warm-up in the alleyway as Sam planned a running route out from the alleyway to Dulwich Park via the long Crystal Palace Road. Once they reached Dulwich Park, they met up with James who was patiently waiting for us. Thanks to Emma for backmarking on the way there.

We met up with Benjamin and Ian, who already started on the task at hand, which was to pick up sticks, stones and leaves from the ground that was unseeded. We dedicated 15 minutes on this before Ian brought a bucket of grass seeds to throw and sow. Our volunteering sessions usually last 30-40 minutes, but since we were at a rugby club, we opted for 20 minutes of volunteering and 10-15 minutes of introducing the basics of rugby and getting in a touch rugby game. Since we were in eight, we could split the group in two and play 4v4. It was lucky that four of us had our GoodGym red t-shirt on whilst there was a mixture of GG black shirts and non-GG shirts on. Yet, Ian wanted us to get comfortable with holding and passing the ball, so we played "over" and "under" plus "side-to-side" as a warm up.

Afterwards, Ian threw us straight into a touch game telling us that you just need to "run forward and pass backwards". Everytime someone gets touch, you will have to pass the ball. If you drop the ball, it goes to the other team. The aim is to score a try, but crossing the line and touching it down. At the start, there were some back and forth with errors of dropping the ball on both sides, but the non-reds scored first with a "touchdown" try by Maria (which we accepted) before the GoodGym Reds came back with a try from Emma. It came to the deciding try, which Tiernan quite quickly converted for the non-reds taking the win! Everyone was exhausted even after 10 minutes of rugby!

We ended the session with a group photo before saying our goodbyes to Ian and those who cycled to the task. On the way back, we made a detour to see the sights of London from Dawson's Hill.

Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night. We had a bit of everything - running, volunteering, rugby, snacks and sights. I hope you'd enjoyed it as much as I did. Kudos to all and if I don't see you next week, see you soon!