Huddersfield U8’s Rugby Tour, Scarborough April/May 2022
It had been a long time coming, the tour had been booked since October and the big day was finally here!
To keep costs manageable we had all decided to make our own way to the youth hostel in Scarborough on Friday evening, avoiding the need for an expensive coach. The weather was good and on a bank holiday weekend the traffic was forecast to be terrible, so with that in mind and needing to take over the accommodation before 1700hrs a few of us set off nice and early, leaving at lunchtime, to beat the worst of the A64 mayhem.
On arrival at the hostel it was clear that this was going to be the perfect accommodation for our group, clean and well looked after with plenty of space, a great start! Happy with the way things were going so far, the early arrivals hotfooted it up to the carvery pub next door and helped ourselves to a hearty meal to prepare ourselves for the weekend that would be ruled by feral 8 year olds!
Over the next few hours the remainder of the party turned up and the weekend began in Earnest. An excited Haribo fuelled U8’s rugby team took the hostel by storm and no area was safe, the noise was fever pitch but the kids happy faces were worth it! It didn’t look like the kids would get any sleep at all but very gradually they started to fall 1 by 1 until only the adults were left. A sensible evening of polite conversation ensued sharing cultural and social interests, as well as a game or 2 of beer pong to finish off the night!
The next morning, most of the team were up bright and early. Our hosts provided bacon and sausage sandwiches for all, which really hit the spot and soaked up the previous evenings’ festivities.
We set off down to Scarborough to tackle the North Bay Railway’s high ropes course, there were a couple of nervous faces and we had a refusal or two to start with but with a bit of encouragement all of the kids got up there, and a few of the parents too! There was definitely a boundary or 2 pushed on this activity with much encouragement and promises of ice cream coming from below and pride from all concerned seeing how well all of the kids did.
Once everyone had had enough of balancing precariously 50 feet in the air, we moved off to the beach! With the weather cracking the flags and not a cloud in the sky we couldn’t believe our luck, April in Britain and no rain! We got settled, there were rugs, chairs, buckets, spades a volleyball net and a few adult refreshments kicking about too. We discussed lunch options, nobody fancied the price of an arm and a leg for fish and chips at the nearby cafe so the intrepid explorers among us set off for the chip shop about 2 miles further down the seafront. Once our appetites were satiated there was some Top Gun style beach volleyball, swimming and rounders before the tide pushed us off the beach and we headed back for the hostel!
Back at the hostel, a mountain of Dominos food was ordered (which we didn’t manage to eat even half of!) and we got down to the serious business of this season’s awards. All the kids received a trophy, a tour shirt and a positive word about their performance this season. The coaches also received an unexpected gift and word of thanks which was very much appreciated and well-received!
This evenings festivities were far more reserved than the previous nights with most of the kids in bed early and all but the most die-hard parents retreating to bed not much later!
Sunday morning arrived, with all the team and a few of the parents sporting the lovely hulk based tour shirt, we looked the part. Following another sausage or bacon sandwich for breakfast we set off for Scarborough rugby club leaving the hostel behind for the last time.
Scarborough were fantastic hosts and they were waiting for us to arrive, we were ushered into our own changing rooms and the team felt like we were internationals waiting to run out through the tunnel to our adoring fans! But back to reality, as we came out of the changing rooms we had the first rain of the tour. We started out with half an hour of games and training and then went into some games. The team did us proud with some very tired and sugar fuelled boys playing their hearts out and really enjoying themselves. Following the rugby we had some fun with a tug of war where even the mums and dads got involved, well played Scarborough RUFC it was a great day!
A hot dog and a few drinks and I think we were all ready to go home, parents included!
Same again next year?
