Brian Chambers a respected rugby league coach in the area of Warrington and beyond, someone who has coached the likes of Barrie Mcdermott and Terry O'Connor, and even discovered Kevin Penny when he was playing basketball, turned his expertise to something a little bit different!

 

At the beginning of this year he met with a group of men from James Lee House (Salvation Army) in Warrington to discuss the Sports Leadership Courses. On that day he signed a group of these men up to complete the course. For the following weeks Brian put them through their paces and helped them to increase their physical health as well as their confidence. The scheme is designed to up skill participants in areas such as communication, organisation and leadership.

 

To complete the course and in the final week the group had to coach a class of Primary School Children for a minimum of 15 minutes. I wouldn't like to do this never mind someone who has a bank of issues that these men have! So it was a very proud moment for all concerned. To reward the participants they were invited along to the Wolves versus Hull KR game and were presented with their certificates on the pitch during half term.

 

The Wolves Foundation now has a waiting list at James Lee House as well as at other centers in the area to be able to replicate the programme and to also put the first group of men through the second course.

Centre manager Philip Pyrah wrote to the Warrington wolves saying:

“I am writing to say how much our service users enjoyed the sports course run by Brian during the last few weeks.  They were so enthusiastic and really looked forward to each visit to the Stadium.  They have really benefited from this activity as it has provided them with a purpose and motivation as well as a general feeling of well-being as a result of the exercise. I do hope that you will eventually find funding available to be able to carry on with this tremendous work as I am sure, because this has proved popular with out current service users, other persons will be motivated to do the same course and hopefully reap the benefits.