Rachel Brown is South West's new Volunteer Executive
Feb
A former Wales Women's rugby international and Rugby Development Officer for Greater Manchester Rachel Brown packs her bags and moves South towards the end of this month to takes up her new role as the South/South West's Volunteer Executive as from Monday, 22nd February.
Rachel's appointment completes the quartet of Volunteer Executives around the country who each concentrate on implementing the RFU's VRugby project, that helps develop young volunteers by using external funds from V matched by investment from the Rugby Football Foundation. They also take charge of the This Is Rugby Volunteer cause that supports Volunteer Coordinators in the RFU clubs and Constituent Bodies in order to use the values of the game to recruit volunteers.
"I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth into it," says Rachel enthusiastically. "I think, talking to the Regional Development Manager Andy Blackmore and others, that I'm really starting with a clean slate and I hope I'll be able to make quite an impact.
"Initially I shall be going around meeting people and finding out all about their strengths and where we can improve on things."
One of her prime targets will certainly be to get the 16 to 24 year-old age group heavily involved in helping out at their local clubs.
"Certainly working with the 16 to 24 year-olds is the natural target," she admits. "If we can tap into that age group of people then we'll keep some of them for anything up to 50 years or so.
"We also want to find the people who haven't even thought about volunteering their services around the clubs up to now."
Rachel herself hails from the Midlands having grown up in Bakewell in the Peak District and, for a while, followed in her mother's footsteps and played county standard netball.
"I was always very sporty and turned my hand to everything but especially netball," she recalls. "But I also always enjoyed going to watch the local rugby side and when I got to University I fancied a bit of a change and I thought 'I'll have a go'.
Her time at Bangor University where she gained a BSc Hons in Sport Science & PGCE certainly honed her rugby skills as a forward and ultimately gained her a PE teaching post at Haslingden Secondary School.
She also played for Waterloo at No.8 while her three year stay in Wales enabled her to qualify to play for the principality and, in 2004, she made her international debut in the second-row at the Loftus Stadium on tour in South Africa.
"It's a bit of a claim to fame of mine," she says with great pride. "We won with the last kick of the game and it's one memory I will never forget."
She went on to win 13 caps and although still only 28 she's not expecting to reach those dizzy heights in the sport anymore although certainly won't give up playing altogether when she is finally settled in to her new home around the Worcester area.
"I shall probably end up playing for someone down there but it depends on how seriously I want to play again," she confesses
A fully licensed Coach Educator and Trainer she joined the RFU back in 2008 and on top of her RDO role she is also a RFU Safeguarding Tutor and has made a significant to the Deaf and Disability rugby programme
Rachel will be supporting the volunteer programmes across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset & Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Somerset
