The Hornets are all geared up for the new season, with the ladies’ juniors and minis preparing for the exciting times ahead.

WITH the senior sides concluding their preparations for the forthcoming league campaign, the rest of the Hornets club has also been busy preparing for an exciting season ahead.

As well as the three senior sides, Hornets have very strong ladies, juniors and minis sections.

The ladies team, The Hornettes, are recognised as a strong local team with a growing membership, and last season were champions of their league. They are supported by three age group teams for girls at Under-18s, 15s and 13s, all of whom are keen to attract new girls between the ages of 10 and 17 to take up rugby.

A particular success recently for the club has seen one of the girls’ coaches, Rhi Tottle, qualifying as a level 2 coach. Rhi was nominated by her team for the QBE coach of the year award, and was one of four coaches nationally who won.

The prize was a place on the level 2 coaching course, and even more exciting will be the visit to Hornets of a “rugby legend” to run a coaching session alongside Rhi.

While the ladies’ section goes from strength to strength, Hornets long-established mini and junior sections continue to grow.

The minis run age group sides for all children up to the age of 12. The youngest group, the Little Stingers, caters for Under-6s and then all other age groups from Under-7s to 12s either train or play matches every Sunday morning.

The juniors run sides from Under-13s through to Colts (Under-18s). The junior sides also play on Sundays and all sides take part in local cup competitions, under the watchful eye of first team assistant coach John Richardson.

The oldest of the junior teams, the Colts, is recognised as one of the most important squads in the club as it is this side that aims to produce players for the senior teams. This process works well with over 80 per cent of the current First and Development team squads being products of the junior set-up.

This year’s Colts will be made up of a combination of last year’s Under-16 and 17 teams. The squad already has 35 playing members and with both teams reaching the Somerset Cup final last seaso, they are well placed to build on this previous success.

This year the Colts will play in the Bristol and District League, the National Cup, the Somerset Cup and the Bristol Combination Cup, so a large squad will be vital.

All this gets underway on Sunday when all existing players will be returning to start a new season and anyone interested in joining one of the age group teams should turn up to register their interest.

Hornets look forward to welcoming new members over the coming weeks, being players of any age or supporters who want to experience the World Cup as part of a successful and well supported local club.