Sevens Star Tom Bowen Is Mane Event!

This week we have been extremely privileged to have England Sevens, Tom Bowen join us on camps and running group sessions for clubs!

If you are up to date with your rugby knowledge you will know Tom and his teammates, as well as the Women’s Sevens team, have recently lost their jobs due to Coronavirus.

Tom is searching for a new club and said; “It’s hard to get a shot at a Premiership club. Unless you are over 6ft and weigh over 90kgs, it’s like they won’t take the risk on you”. 

He has not given up hope. Tom has even taken it upon himself to find private funding to run his own programme, along with the rest of the Sevens team, which he described as “empowering”.

This hasn’t deterred Tom from supporting the next generation of rugby players either. He recently joined the Old Wimbledonian Warriors U16 team for a two-hour session. They covered running drills and the mechanics of movement, agility and beating defenders one-on-one, passing under pressure and kicking.The recent change hasn’t waivered his determination to keep training either and Tom is a true professional. After his two-hour session with the U16 players, he completed a conditioning session! 

When asked, at the end of the session, what the players should continue to work on Tom gave the following advice:

• Work on your speed and agility - “If you are fast and can beat players one-on-one you can’t be ignored”.
• Develop your technical skills - passing off both hands over 10 metres -  “If you are a good rugby player you have a good chance”. 
• Increase your cardio fitness! “It is something I struggled with at first but it’s vital for success”.

"It was awesome for the lads to have access to coaching from an international 7s player like Tom Bowen. This is true grassroots rugby coaching! Well done Lions Academy and Tom Bowen!” (Brendan Byrne, Old Wimbledonains, Club Coaching Coordinator)

It has been a pleasure working with Tom and the group at Old Wimbledonians RFC. There have been some visible improvements in just a few sessions which Tom has been involved in. 

We wish Tom and his teammates all the best with their search for work. We’re also looking forward to seeing the International Sevens game back on the TV in the near future.