Today, Friday the 22nd June, sees the final working day at the club for community coach Graeme Spencer AKA Spen. After almost three and a half years at the club as a community coach, and player, Graeme is leaving to start the next chapter of his life which sees him move on to a completely new career.
Graeme joined the club in 2009 as a player and to work in the club’s community department. Graeme’s playing career with the club was interupted in 2010 after he sustained a nasty back injury but, as the picture above shows, he can still pull on his boots when required. The Milton Keynes Wolves team, who Graeme faced when playing for DAISNAID recently, all thought he was the pick of the DAISNAID team!
Commenting on his time at Skolars Graeme said “As with my playing career, my coaching career has been filled with highs and lows. The lows include having to travel on LOTS of buses and tubes with a bag of balls and cones before I had a car! The highs are to many to count, but winning the 2011 London Junior League Club of the Year is hard to top! So it is on to pastures new as I step into the “real world” of working regular hours, and not filling my day with pumping up rugby balls and filling water bottles! I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at the club for giving me the opportunlty to work and live in London. The people involved in Skolars are what make it a great club, and I hope that this continues into the future. I am now unfotunantly a Skolars fan for life”.
Skolars Community Manager Paul Thorman also reflected on Graeme’s time with the club “Graeme’s arrival at the club was somewhat unconventional and the HR department would probably frown upon it now but I don’t think we could’ve appointed a more suitable person. Graeme arrived at a time where the club needed someone to roll their sleeves up and get on with it. With that, Spen has managed to go above and beyond the call of duty and the awards the club received in 2011, Junior League Club of the Year and Haringey Club of the Year, were recognition for Graeme’s hard work throughout his time at London Skolars. The club is almost unrecognisable from when Graeme started here, which is testament to his quality, allied to this, he has maintained his unique sense of humour throughout.”
Every child and young adult who has had the fortune to be coached by Graeme will testify to what a positive and enthusiastic attitude he brought to every coaching session. He has an infectious love and knowledge of Rugby League and we know he will find it hard not to be involved with the sport at some level in the future.
The Skolars offices will be a quieter place after today. Graeme’s “sledgehammer” wit and banter will be sorely missed. We wish him every success for the future and he leaves knowing he will always be welcome at the club at any time.
Good luck Spen and thanks for the laughs – far too many to mention!
