The Chief Visits Tor Rugby Club
On a chilly, but picturesque spring evening hundreds of a young rugby players gathered at Tor Rugby Club. Amarin’s sponsored player, Exeter Chiefs and Italy star Ross Vintcent joined Alex and Aron for an evening everyone in attendance will never forget. Before we even got started we were met by young Italian player Georgio Nicodemi. Georgio had come down especially to meet Ross with Dad Paulo. After having his Italy shirt signed, photos taken and spending time conversing in Italian we had one very happy fan.
Paulo said, “I just want to say a massive thank you to your representative that came down to Tor Rugby tonight with Ross Vintcent. It was amazing to see my little boy’s face light up. Plus I have never seen him so quiet. Thanks for giving all the kids this opportunity and thank Ross for inspiring and spending so much time with them. Great ambassador.”
Ross arrived looking his stylish best before Aron informed him he’d be joining in with training. After a quick costume change Ross first joined the Under 9s/10s training where he joined in with some passing drills. Many of the youngest players at training were slightly distracted by the Italian superstar watching them train. Ross took the time to take part in a Q&A, a group photo and then signed autographs for every single youngster in that group.
The next group to be joined by Ross was the Under 12s/13s team. They were doing various drills and by this time Ross couldn’t wait to join in. Taking the time to ask all the kids their name and then calling for a pass from them was a massive thrill for the group. As much as you may think older children wouldn’t be quite so in awe of a Twickenham try scorer you’d be wrong. The number of Exeter Chiefs shirts that appeared that night was staggering. Everyone was made to feel special by an increasing comfortable Mr Vintcent. Again a Q&A, team photo and autographs were all undertaken with enthusiasm and patience. We had had special autograph cards made up bearing Amarin’s logo plus pictures of Ross in full flow for both Exeter Chiefs and Italy. We ran through over a hundred of those!
The final part of the evening was with “The Big Kids”. The Under 15s team were in the midst of an intense game of touch rugby. By this point Ross was more than keen to get involved. Donning a red bib, and joined by Amarin Fields Sales Manager and Tor Club Caption Aron, he threw himself into the game. Despite some slipping and sliding (still wearing trainers!) Ross played for 45 minutes, breaking quite a sweat in the process. The lads loved having Ross involved. He was more happy to give advice and play a full part in the game.
After an action packed 2 hours of training the final autograph and photo session took place to leave every child who attended feeling truly special. Ross was a tremendous sport, a great ambassador and wonderful young man. We took the opportunity to get an Exeter Chief Champion Cup jersey signed, which we will be giving away soon on our social media. One final round of photos and we sent Ross on his way absolutely beaming.
Ross said, “Thanks so much Alex. Had a really good time. So wholesome to see the kids so happy.” We look forward to welcoming Ross to Rolstone Farm in the near future. We are very grateful to everyone at Exeter Chiefs, Tor Rugby Club and, of course, Ross himself, for making this wonderful evening possible.
