Here’s Head Coach of the 1923s Josh Sharp
“It’s been a great year! Are there things that we would do differently next time out? One hundred per cent! But for us to get seven games on, to get playing opportunities where people could just turn up and play it’s been brilliant. That’s actually led to someone to join our Senior Academy from outside the Club – we’ll obviously announce them in due course. We’ve had a couple of great wins -Cambridge University at home, where the Town began the season by beating the Light Blues, which was magnificent. We then beat the Army in that game in October, when the rain was coming down, and we were struggling; to come back and beat them was tremendous.
We’ve had some great individual stories – we’ve had players come and join us like Harry Bellamy, who came from Sedburgh School to be part of our academy for a year before going to University. Mark Miska-Alvarez has played for Spain whilst in our Academy before going travelling. So we’re really facilitating different journeys – but to really see the players develop and grow has been superb. In terms of 1st XV appearances, for our Academy to produce 3 players who were capped is the icing on the cake.
“We’ve got lots planned, and lots in the pipeline for next year. We’ve spent the year making sure we’ve got a solid foundation of what the 1923s are and what we believe in, and what the process is and how people get involved. We’re now going to look internally and see how we can develop the talent we’ve got within our club. And there’s going to be lots more opportunities for people in our own pathway to be involved in our programme – so it’s going to be pretty cool! We’ve got a Senior Academy that is starting to come together nicely now. So that’ll be a full-time programme. They’ll be working with Craig Newby and all the other coaches attached to the 1st XV squad next season. So that’s going to be bigger than it was last year, too. I’m pretty happy with that! Then we’ve got some other bits and pieces that I need to keep close to my chest, but I’m very excited about how it’s going, to develop and make our Academy and our pathway look cool. Overall it’s been a superb year. The numbers (shown on the graphic) are great. Our reach is fantastic. I think it’s 34,000 interactions on Instagram, which I know to some people is small, but where we’ve been, we want to be shouting about we’re doing and keep pushing forward, and keep growing. Those numbers are a good, solid baseline for what we’re planning to do as we look to grow even more.”
If you’d like to be involved in the 1923s programme email josh.sharp@crufc.co.uk to inquire.