Carlisle Rugby Club have selected a current Polish international, who has worked in Borders rugby, as their new youth development officer.
A player with Tynedale, 28-year-old Ross Cooke is taking on the newly created role aimed at bringing major benefits to the club and the wider community.
As well as playing for Tynedale, Cooke also plays wing or full-back for the national Polish team and has 10 caps to date. He qualifies through his maternal grandfather.
He started all of their games in their successful 2021/2022 season when they were promoted to the Rugby European Championship, where they will now play the likes of Georgia, Spain and Portugal.
Due to his connection to Polish rugby, he spent time as a player/coach/video analyst with Sparta Jarocin who are in the Polish Premiership.
Cooke lives in Carlisle, but is originally from Lincoln where he first played rugby.
He went on to study sport and exercise at Gloucester University and was chairman of the University of Gloucestershire Men’s Rugby Union Club. In that role he was very successful at raising funds for the club.
Following graduation, Ross moved to Maidstone in Kent as a rugby coach before heading north to Kelso Rugby Club, where he was assistant development officer.
In 2018 he was appointed as development officer at Gala RFC, where he oversaw the whole junior programme from Under-fives to Under-18s for boys and girls.
This involved making long, medium, and short-term plans and targets to ensure growth of numbers and progression of quality of youth rugby in the town.
In order for these targets to be met he worked closely in the secondary school in the town to deliver rugby PE lessons, and School of Rugby sessions, as well as liaising with primary schools in the catchment area to deliver rugby sessions in PE.
This strategy worked as numbers of rugby participants increased by 35 per cent at the end of two seasons and that’s exactly the area and response that Carlisle are looking for.
Cooke has worked with the Newcastle Rugby Foundation at Newcastle Falcons Rugby Club for the past year, delivering training sessions at holiday camps, and residential sessions across Cumbria, Northumberland, and Durham.
He also coaches as part of the Newcastle Falcons Development Player Programme, for players with high potential between the ages of 13 and 16.
A spokesman for the Carlisle club said: “We are very pleased to have appointed someone of Ross’s experience and ability and look forward to him developing relationships across the education sector in north Cumbria.
“The aim is to spread the game in the area, with an aim to ultimately improve the quantity and skills of participants in youth rugby in this area.”
