Tuesday 16 April 2024 saw some of the Cyprus-based players who are involved in the Cyprus Rugby 7s team hold a second training session with the Cyprus 7s Coach, Marko Mladenovic, following an initial session the previous week. Marko took the opportunity whilst visiting his family in Cyprus to cast an eye over the players and assess their progress with the program they had been set earlier in the year.
Paphos and Limassol Players Drilled
The training session was held at Paphos Tigers’ pitch and the 7s players were joined by the wider Paphos squad, who themselves are preparing for the final round of the 26 Degrees Global Markets Cyprus Sevens Championships to be played in Limassol on Saturday 20 April.
The session saw 11 senior players, including 3 from Limassol Crusaders, and 11 teenage junior players put through their paces by Marko with 7s-rugby-specific drills to get them in the right frame of mind for this type of fast-paced format of the game.
Everyone worked hard for the 90 minutes they were on the pitch and at the conclusion of the session Marko said “It has always been a privilege to be part of Cyprus Rugby and I wanted to give something back to my rugby roots and where I started my rugby journey”. He added “I have taken on the role of Cyprus Rugby 7s Coach with as much enthusiasm as when I play. I remember playing 7s rugby for Cyprus across Europe with some success and I want to bring that again to the new group of players we have coming through. The ultimate goal is to be successful both in the Rugby Europe 7s Championships and the GSSE (Games of the Small States of Europe) games, which next year are in Andorra. We want to go there with a chance of winning a medal so preparation like this is crucial to the team spirit moving forward”.
Potential New Talent Uncovered
As a consequence of the two sessions, 3 of the teenage players have been identified as having potential and will be brought onto the 7s Development program here in Cyprus alongside their counterparts in the UK.
Marko finished by saying “The big win for me is to see how many promising young players we have here in Cyprus learning from the senior guys and that can only be a good thing for the future”.
Cyprus Rugby Team Manager Dave Lee added “It’s really good that Marko has taken time out from family commitments to come along and deliver 2 quality training sessions for not only the 7s players but the wider rugby community, who I am sure will have benefitted and learnt from the experience. I am very grateful to him and this goes to show that we have a very connected pathway across Cyprus Rugby and are passionate about nurturing talent here in Cyprus so that they may one day pull on the Mighty Mouflon jersey”.
By Dave Lee - Cyprus Rugby Team Manager
