The Chiefs management organised a Family Fun Day on Sunday August 17th and the sun shone (how did they do that?).

Hundred's of young and not so young fans turned out to join in the fun.  With players and management putting in a lot of effort to make it a great success, which is what it was.  It was great to see how ell the players get on and how keen they were to make sure everyone hafd a good time.

I took the 'behind the scene's tour' with Tony Yapp, who did a great job (even when being watched by PD).  

The tour took in the running track under the stand,




Some disturbing information re alcohol consumption - some recent research from the Olympics suggests that alcohol can affect hand/eye co-ordination for up to 3 weeks!!
The effect of two players in a crunch tackle is equivalent to a 45mph head on crash.
John and his team aim to get players Fitter - Faster - Stronger after re-hab not Fatter!




Rob Baxter has the job of coding each Scrum, Ruck, Line0out, Pass, Tackle, Carry etc. on the match video to aid analysis.  It can take 4 hours to code a game.
Each player has an individual session to look at their game.
Technical and Tactical angles are reviewed.
The opposition are also analysed in the same way.



There were also stalls manned by Junior Chiefs teams, Supporters travel, The Friends and Sandy Park conference centre.

Once I'd finished the tour out onto the pitch where the players were giving youngsters the chance to try tyheir hand at rugby skills.

• Scrum machine
• Kicking and catching drill
• Throwing in (in a match the ball can be thrown 17' - 19' high)
• Scrum-half passing (the ball not the scrum-half!)
• Running and evasion skills
• Lineout lifting (very popular) 

• Tackling
• Paddy's fitness drill

There was also an inflatable activity centre for the kids and the bar was open for the grown-ups.

Thanks to the management and players for a really good time and I hope it will be repeated.

I also managed a quick chat (not easy to talk too long whilst looking up so far) with our sponsored player Lewis Stevenson.