Festival and Award for Ballymena Bears

Festival and Award for Bears
Another super Sunday of rugby for the Ballymena Bears this time at Newforge in Belfast courtesy of the Ulster Special Needs Tag Rugby Group. The numbers of teams across the province are growing steadily and it was brilliant to share the fun with 8 teams from as far away as Enniskillen and Letterkenny. The Bears fielded 2 teams, one in each of the under and over 15s categories. Both teams had three matches each and all were played at an extremely high standard and climbing! The growth in teams and opposition really has had a superb influence on the quality of rugby across all the groups and can only mean that special needs tag rugby will continue to grow and prosper as a sport in the Province.

The Bears were also recognised this weekend by the Ulster Rugby Branch who awarded their Head Coach, Gary Donald the Ulster Disability Rugby Coach of the Year Award. Gary told us “I am truly over the moon to receive this award and I hope it will help raise the profile of the Bears to help us reach our goal of having 50 playing members”. Gary, since starting the Bears in 2012 has been part of a dedicated team of both players and coaches “without whom this award would not have been possible and it is as much theirs as mine” he said. If your interested in playing Tag Rugby (Non Contact) please see Ballymena Rugby Club web page or Ballymena Bears Facebook page for more information. CLICK HERE FOR FB