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Leamington Spartans Junior Dodgeball

As an established adult only club for some time it has been excellent to see Leamington Spartans interest in developing a junior section grow throughout 2023. And as with the majority of junior sections, in whichever sport you are involved in, it is a keen parent who is the driving force. We recently spoke to Mark Hopkins about junior dodgeball at Leamington Spartans.

“We regularly have 10-15 children aged between 10 and 17 attending our weekly sessions which is great, the sessions are self-sufficient now and with the support of other parents and the adult section we’re really excited about the future progression of the club”.

The introduction of juniors has also created a successful pathway of young adults into the adult teams, as Mark explains. “Both Sam & Charlie Hopkins as well as Ed Fleming have represented Leamington Spartans at senior level in the national league and Charlie has even gone on to be selected for the England development squad. The lads have done great and last season were all part of promotion winning teams”. 

“The players have looked for opportunities where possible to compete and are now enjoying participating in the regional league as an under 17’s team before they begin their national league season in the new year”.

Mark’s aspirations are to engage more local children in the club and establish more teams at junior level in order to continue the growth of this successful junior pathway. He hopes that the benefits seen at Leamington Spartans will inspire other community clubs to develop their own junior sections and pathway to the adult game.