PSA Academies, led by co-founder and French Rugby great Philippe Saint Andre, recently undertook an Outreach Programme visit to the beautiful French Caribbean island of Martinique. Read all about 10 days spent spreading the high performance PSA Academies development philosophy to an enthusiastic and vibrant local rugby community.
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As rugby missions go, there are not many sweeter than visiting a beautiful holiday island in the Caribbean and so it was that a team of top rugby coaches, representing the PSA Academies business, made a maiden trip in late March to Martinique to deliver an action packed programme to the island’s vibrant rugby community.
The PSA Academies team, led by Philippe Saint Andre also included coaches Jermome Riondet (leading French Rugby journalist and ex-Harlequins, FC Grenoble & Oxford University Blue, the first Frenchman to play in the Varsity Match), Florian Rossigneux (ex-Racing, Sydney University, London Wasps, Bedford & Richmond player and Rugby Canada & Rosslyn Park coach), Jules Di Tomaso and Cory Brown were welcomed by host Olivier Baudin as they arrived for the 10 day programme at Fort de France airport on the west coast of the island.
The focal point and host club for the trip was the Trois Ilets Rugby Club, led by President one of 8 clubs based in Martinique and the business end of the trip was evident from the first evening with the PSA Academies team delivering the first of their 8 training sessions for local players. This session saw the Ecole de Rugby, U16s squad and Women’s teams put through a session that covered the breakdown & tackle technique, core handling skills and game management in attack, plus a variety for decision making and teamwork games.
The daily schedule during the duration of the trip combined some sightseeing/free time with daily afternoon/evening training clinics for players and coaches plus commercial work including guest speaking engagements, Q&As and meetings for valued trip sponsors such as Vito & Baudin.
A particular highlight of the trip was the Charity Rugby Tournament running through the afternoon and evening of the 24th March, with fantastic participation, support and entertainment had by all who attended and took part.
PSA Academies would like to take all the organisers, corporate sponsors, volunteers, players and rugby supporters who made the trip such an outright success. See our gallery for images from the programme.
We look forward to tracking the ongoing development of Martinique Rugby and hope to be able to return for a repeat visit at some stage in the not-too-distant future.
