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14
Sept
Harrogate rugby player flies club colours whilst volunteering in Sri Lanka
A Harrogate rugby player has flown the colours of Harrogate Rugby Club whilst volunteering in Sri Lanka.
Fred Yates, 21, is currently completing a sports development volunteering programme in Hikkaduwa, in the southwest of the country.
The programme involves travelling between schools, cleaning them up and maintaining their sports facilities, and then playing various sports with the schoolchildren.
During his time there, he has handed out shirts of his hometown club, Harrogate, to underprivileged children. Yates has played at the club since he was nine.
Fred Yates hands out Harrogate RUFC shirts to Sri Lankan children.
The Stray Ferret caught up with Yates this week to find out why he was doing the programme. He said:
I was at Newcastle Uni and got an email saying they offer grants to people who want to go to foreign countries and volunteer there.
I’ve been here for two weeks now, volunteering with Travelteer. They offer different programmes like mental health and marine and wildlife conservation, but I chose sports development. I’ve always been a sporty person.
Yates said that each school he has visited is very different. Some are well-maintained, others are not. He also visited an orphanage for disabled children, which he added was “really tough to see”.
But the overarching feeling for Yates, he says, is pride.
The volunteer said that the children love playing sports more than anything, and that seeing them enjoying something that he’s helped to do is “a joy to see”.
He explained that the children usually want to play football, volleyball or cricket. Cricket is the national sport in Sri Lanka, and while Yates played cricket until he was 18, he said the children are all much better than him.
When visiting a volleyball club in the region, though, the children wanted to play touch rugby. Touch rugby is a safer form of rugby often used in schools, which swaps tackling for touching opponents.
It was at the volleyball club that he handed out the Harrogate rugby shirts. He told us why he did it:
Before I went, I rang the company to see if any schools did rugby coaching. When I found out they did, I got in touch with Harrogate [RUFC].
I rang Aled [Jones] and asked for as many junior shirts as possible. I knew as soon as I arrived at the volleyball club that I was going to give the shirts to them – they were the poorest group of them all.
Yates added that the children loved touch rugby, constantly telling him “hundai” – the Sinhalese word for good.
Harrogate’s director of rugby, Jake Brady, confirmed that the club will also be making a donation to the volleyball club.
So, how was Yates’ experience? He said:
It’s been amazing. Like I never could have imagined. It’s the most beautiful country I’ve ever been to and everyone is so friendly here. I’d recommend this programme to anyone.
For more information about Travelteer’s volunteering courses, click here.
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