At just 14-years-old, Archie, a Bristol teenager is leading the way on and off the pitch as player coach for the city's first ever All Inclusive rugby team, thanks to the skills he's learnt on Premiership Rugby's award-winning Project Rugby programme.
Archie will lead and help develop the All Inclusive team in his role as player coach at Kingswood Rugby Club. With dreams of being a coach since he was 10-years-old Archie, who has autism, embraced his time on the Project Rugby programme, which enables underrepresented groups of young people to experience the benefits of rugby, these include women and girls, those with a disability and from ethnically diverse and lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Archie, honed the skills he learnt on the programme and together with support from his parents, Austin and Stacey, who set up the All Inclusive team back in September 2022, he has grown into his role. Archie will led the team which supports children with special needs and/or disabilities to find their confidence, learn new skills through rugby and to reap the benefits of playing this great sport.
Speaking at Kingswood's first competitive game which took place back in February Archie explains his journey to securing a role where he can have fun and showcase his talents.
"I didn't like playing rugby when I was younger as I didn't really like getting tackled," said Archie.
"But I wanted to get back into it, so my dad came up with the idea to set up Kingswood to help me and other people with disabilities get into rugby clubs and enjoy it. We started it in the September last year and weren't really sure if people would turn up but they did.
"I've also wanted to be a coach since I was about 10 because I've seen so many coaches just like my dad.
"I just really like helping other people and teaching them how to do new stuff which is really cool. I now want to keep coaching different clubs and see where I can go with the sport."
Premiership Rugby deliver the Project Rugby programme in conjunction with title partner Gallagher and the RFU. Sessions are run at local community sites and schools using the Premiership Rugby network of clubs and club foundations nationwide with the aim to increase participation, inclusivity, and diversity in the sport. The six-week programme introduces rugby to novices at easily accessible, familiar locations run by coaches and volunteers from Premiership clubs, harnessing rugby's core values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline, and sportsmanship.
Since its inception in 2017, over 100,000 people have participated in Project Rugby sessions held at over 200 different locations across England. Bristol Bears' Community Inclusion Practitioner, Jordan Lovatt, has witnessed the programme's success first-hand through his work with Kingswood, he says.
"There's been a huge development in Archie's rugby skills in the last year. He has become one of the leaders of the group while still at quite a young age and as a player-coach has been able to translate those skills outside of the rugby pitch to become a competent young man. You can see the massive confidence boost this has given him.
"For the whole club, I think the major thing over the past few years is the opportunities that Project Rugby offers. We were able to take Archie's team up to Northampton High Performance Centre recently. For them to access something like that and to be able to cope with the day was a really big thing. Without Project Rugby They wouldn't get those opportunities."
Andy Ferguson, Managing Director of title partner Gallagher's Bristol Office, adds: "Project Rugby does some fantastic work and Archie's story is a fantastic example of why this initiative is so important.
"It is brilliant to hear that the programme helped Archie come a long way in terms of developing his skills to a point where he is coaching others. Gallagher is very proud of Project Rugby and the ways in which it helps encourage and support young people across the UK."