A pair of black and neon green straps supported Gwyn Reynolds’s knees as he faked a pass to the left and sidestepped the defender. With an open field ahead, he clutched the rugby ball in his right hand, leaned forward and crossed the try line.
A smile flashed across Gwyn’s face as his teammates, the opposition players and the coach standing on the sidelines cheered. The 62-year-old had scored his first try of the day.
“I never had any rugby skills, even when I was young,” says Gwyn with a smile. “If anything, I have gotten worse. The knee is the main problem.”
Every Saturday morning, Gwyn arrives at Cwmbran Stadium to train and play Walking Rugby with the Torfaen Swifts, a club established in 2018. The hour-long training session helps him connect with the game he has loved since boyhood and quit playing in his twenties. As he rediscovers the sport, old age and damaged knees sometimes frustrate him, but competitiveness has not left the man.
“I can’t do what I used to do. I can’t turn quickly. If I do get the ball at a pace, I can’t stop. It takes a while to slow down. I can’t put so much pressure on the knee. It is annoying,” he says.
Gwen’s teammate, 64-year-old Owen Davies, is diabetic and has prostate cancer and a loop recorder in his chest to monitor his heart rhythm. Walking Rugby motivates him to step out of the house and defy his ailments.
“You are not worried or concerned when you are playing the sport,” says Owen, who joined the team in November last year. “I have got an abnormal heart rhythm. So, I asked my cardiologist if I could play walking rugby, and he said, ‘Yeah, that would be really good’. So, I came here just to defy the fact that I am getting older, and I have got all these ailments.”
Like Gwen and Owen, many other players in Torfaen Swifts have heart monitors, pacemakers, hip problems, diabetes and high blood pressure. The team is open to people of all ages and genders, but most are in their 60s. Some have difficulty walking, but at least a couple of them are fast enough to dodge multiple defenders…
CONTINUE READING at source: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/weve-heart-monitors-pacemakers-hip-31302333
VIEW OUR WALKING RUGBY SESSION LISTING HERE:https://www.walkingsports.com/walking-rugby/united-kingdom/torfaen-principal-area/cwmbran/walking-rugby-clubs/torfaen-swifts-walking-rugby/
#walkingrugby #walkingsports #walkingsport
