Mödling Dragons training - 17th october 2005

The launch event and first training for the Mödling Dragons RFC was well attended and supported by the Austrian National Rugby Coach, Rene. She came to Mödling home ground for a few words before heading back to Vienna to train her team there.

Margaret Carter is a regular player in the Vienna Womens Rugby team, right in close-up photo. She is the driving force behind the launch of a new team in Mödling and also head coach. As coach she proceeded to train the youngsters for well over an hour on Monday night. A variety of exercises and some loose play to finish left the youngsters panting, but asking for more the following week and promising to tell their friends and family about the good time they had had.

Some of the youngsters are pictured above right, and the team has space for several more, in fact with an early challenge to the dragons from the team at Lycee Francais in Vienna it is hoped that Mödling can rise to the challenge fast.

Rugby is experiencing tremendous popularity at the moment, from the Six Nations challenge in Europe to many college teams in North America, to the Rugby World Cup itself. Rugby Sevens has just been added to the Olympic schedule, and it is hoped that Mödling can soon contribute to the training and playerlist for the coming Olympics. In fact, Paul Duteil, President of the Austrian Rugby Federation, in a meeting with the Dragons expressed his hope that the team would offer a substantial contribution to the growth of rugby in Austria and offered his full support.

for more details : contact Margaret Carter, Head Coach, at margaret.carter@update.com or Nigel Stonham, Team Manager, at nigelstonham@gmail.com

Training will continue Monday nights from 5.30pm to 7.30pm at the Freigelände des Sportzentrums Mödling, Dr. Otto Scheff-Weg. Girls and Boys, men and women of all ages are welcome, both for training and to support the team and the verein.