The weekend of the 22nd January 2010 saw around 20 eager hopefuls turn up at the Brtish School of Brussels to try and gain their IRB Level 1 Coaching Quals.

We had a real mix of age, ability and nationalities but we all had one goal, to get our certificate at the end of the 3 days. (From the BBRFC we had Ari Heinz, Anna Blomkvist, Jo Wilkinson, laura Dowsett and marco Migliosi).

The Two coaches to teach/coach us were Dusty Millar and Lofty Stephenson, a couple of great chaps who complimented one another well in the classroom and who added a touch of humour to keep things light-hearted!

The Assessment consisted of Classroom white-board sessions, video analysis, being coached by the coaches then the dreaded individual practical, the delivery of a coaching session!

We all had fun and I think we all got a lot out of it as well as all being successful at gaining the IRB accreditation!

It was another successful event where the BBRFC and the BSB came together to participate and make our joint-venture stronger in it's relationship. It was great to have participants come through from Gent as well, i think they also gained a lot from the Course.

Now that we have so many people qualified, we can get out points from the Vivaldi Commission and also give our new and exisitng players the confidence that they are receiving quality coaching! (Neil Marks already has his level 1 and is onto his level 2 now!)

I'd like to say a big thank you to the following people for making the weekend happen: Stu Dowsett, Brian Pratt, the IRB and RFU, Caron Davies and of course, our Course leaders, Dusty and Lofty!

We're all now looking forward to our Level 2 Course!