A South Wales under 10s rugby team have been putting their passing skills to the test while in isolation – all in support of end of life care charity Marie Curie.
The children, who are all part of the Dowlais RFC Under 10s team, were called to action by coach Luke Jenkins, who works for the charity in the Cwm Taf Health Board area as a Senior Healthcare Assistant and Coordinator.
Luke’s son Iowan, aged 10, also plays for the team.
Luke said: “A couple of the other Dowlais Minis and Juniors had done videos for the NHS, because their mums work at Prince Charles Hospital. I’m a frontline worker for Marie Curie, so I suggested to the under 10s that they could do this passing of the ball video, together as a team to support the charity.
“I messaged our group to explain what I wanted to do, and 12 of the players said they would take part – and of course Iowan said I had to take part too, so I did a shirt swap at the end of my clip.
“I was also trying to keep the momentum going in the team to keep them active and working as a team.”
Luke, who has been a member of Dowlais RFC for around ten years and a coach for four, has been doing drills with his son Iowan in the garden as a way of helping the whole family’s wellbeing at this difficult time.
He is now calling on rugby stars and other sportspeople to continue ‘passing the ball’ to help raise awareness of the charity’s work in providing expert and compassionate end of life care and vital funds to help them continue this work. All those taking part are also called on to nominate another player.
Charli Thomas, Community Fundraiser for South East Wales, said: “The coronavirus has and continues to have, a devastating effect on the charity’s fundraising and income – income upon which we rely on to be able to provide vital care for dying people and their loved ones.
“Marie Curie needs to raise £2.5 million every week to continue to run our essential frontline services and the coronavirus crisis has seriously impacted on our ability to fundraise.
“All fundraising activity which involves direct contact with people has been cancelled, massively reducing the amount of money we have been able to raise in our flagship Great Daffodil Appeal and other events.
“We urgently need funding to make certain that we can continue to provide services and keep our doctors, nurse and hospice staff on the frontline, supporting dying people with and without coronavirus.”
To support the Dowlais Under 10’s #passtheball challenge, upload your clip onto social media with the above hashtag, tagging @MarieCurieCymru and nominating a friend, then donate at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dowlaisu10-passtheball
