Scarlets Rugby visit Class 5

On the afternoon of Tuesday 2nd February, Class 5 welcomed some VERY special visitors to class. Excitement had been quietly mounting and the class were almost 'ready to burst' by the time Mr. Andrew Walker (Chief Medical Officer of the Scarlets) and Scott Williams (Wales and Scarlets' centre) arrived!

Mr. Walker came to talk to the children about the life of a professional sportsman, as part of our topic, "Champions", helped along the way by Scott. Mr. Walker talked to us first about the importance of good nutrition and hydration and showed us eating plans for the players for both training and match days. He showed us how they ate a healthy, balanced diet and the kinds of foods and numbers of meals the players had to eat.

Scott let us into a secret that following a match, the players are allowed to have a treat and they eat LOTS of pizza in the dressing room!! We also learned that one of Scott's favourite meals is spaghetti bolognese and his favourite treats are chocolate and coffee.....although he's not allowed either of these on a game day! 

Mr. Walker then talked us through a week of training for the players and the different activities they do each day - gym training, massage, weights and some rugby.... amongst other things! We realised that many people are needed to work with professional rugby players like coaches, medics, analysts, chefs........ and many more! He also talked about the importance of time spent with family and friends away from the job too, when players are able to relax and do other activities they enjoy.....Scott loves racing cars or motorbikes and rally driving!

At the moment, as Scott is injured, he works in the Team Rehab group at the Scarlets, and is hoping to get back to fitness by the summer, aiming, if all goes well, to be with Wales on their summer tour.

Following the talk, Class 5 were able to question Scott and many excellent questions were asked about his life as a professional sportsman and his international career. Scott provided the children with full honest answers which gave a great insight into the life of a top sportsman.

We all had a fantastic afternoon with our visitors and would like to say a HUGE thank you to them both for giving up their time to talk to the class and for giving such an interesting talk which we all enjoyed and learned from.

"Diolch yn fawr iawn Mr. Walker and Scott!"