Northampton Saints have broken new ground once again in women’s rugby, last week hosting what is thought to be the largest rugby camp specifically for girls the UK has ever seen.
The Club’s Community Department have been running residential camps at Stowe for over a decade, with thousands of junior players from all corners of the globe staying over at the prestigious school for an unbeatable rugby experience.
Saints first introduced the four-day girls camp back in 2018, and since then female participation at Stowe has increased by a whopping 775% – with a total of 140 girls attending last week to make it one of the largest girls rugby camps in the world.
This year’s camp also marked another first as Loughborough Lightning’s players and coaches helped to deliver a day of coaching, as well as a Q&A session for participants at Stowe.
“We were incredibly proud to see 140 girls descend on Stowe last week,” said Saints’ Head of Community, Connor Fleming.
“From launching the girls-only camp just four years ago with 16 participants, it was unbelievable to see so many players taking part this year and it goes to show how much appetite there is for women’s and girls’ rugby in our region and beyond.”
Connor Fleming, Saints’ Head of Community
“This year girls travelled to stay at Stowe from all over the world; we had players from Hong Kong, Dubai, Holland, Germany, Cyprus – and we even had sponsored places for two girls from Chile (supported by School of Rugby project sponsor Latam Inversiones) and Ukraine (supported by Northampton Saints Foundation).
“Without doubt, the Club’s partnership with Loughborough Lightning is helping to harness that excitement around girls’ rugby, and I can’t thanks Rhys Edwards and his players enough for coming along to coach our sessions on Tuesday.”
What a week 🙌
— Saints Community (@SaintsComm) August 5, 2022
Nearly 300 youngsters descended on Stowe School for our first residential camps of 2022, and there's plenty more to come over the next seven days! pic.twitter.com/bMZg2xCjmV
Edwards, Loughborough’s Director of Rugby, added: “Working alongside Saints to develop the next generation of talent who can pull on a Loughborough Lightning (or even an international) shirt one day is one of the main aims of our partnership, and it was remarkable to see so many fledgling players at this year’s camp.
“It feels like Saints are taking massive steps forward in this area – our squad loved coming down and coaching, and many of them mentioned how the offering for the young players at Stowe was above and beyond anything they had experienced at the same age.
“It’s a special week and while I’ve no doubt it will bear more and more fruit as time progresses in terms of helping players progress to the elite level, it’s also just great to see so many girls of all ages and abilities throwing a rugby ball around with huge smiles on their faces.”
Rhys Edwards, Director of Rugby at Loughborough Lightning
Northampton have worked hard to develop girls’ rugby within the Club’s region in recent seasons. Over 2,000 girls have participated in the Saints 7s Series since the first girls-only U15s festivals began in 2012, while every season thousands more girls benefit from coaching in schools and matchday festivals delivered by Saints’ Community Team.
But the girls’ residential at Stowe is now the jewel in the crown, and Fleming is already looking to make next year’s camp even bigger and better.
He added: “We’re delighted to announce that next year’s girls-only camp will go on sale in the coming days, and that we have extended the residential to five days from four.
“That will make it the joint-longest camp we offer at Stowe, and in 2023 we’re confident of breaking the 150-participant mark for the first time. It might be 12 months away but we’re already jumping headfirst into planning to improve and to make sure our participants love their time with us at Stowe!”
