Darren’s Back Story

Darren Reeves Rugby Coaching

Darren’s Rugby Career spans over 3 decades. At the age of 13 Darren discovered his love for rugby at school whilst attending Hugh Christie. Soon after this he progressed into Sevenoaks Rugby Club under 14’s through to the under 18’s and whilst playing for Sevenoaks, he also played for Kent. Next, he played for the Scottish Exiles under 19’s before joining Tonbridge Juddians Rugby Club in the year 2000.

Since 2000 Darren has been a member of TJ’s where he played 1st XV rugby and has graced various other sides throughout the club. In 2005 his career reached a turning point when he was offered a Community Rugby Coach position with the Rugby Football Union. This new role involved coaching rugby in Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and Colleges plus coaching county age groups as well as Kent Women and Girls.

5 years later in 2010 Darren was offered a Head of Rugby position at the Towers school in Ashford, his aim was to turn a pro-dominantly football playing school into a school that also played rugby. He coached curriculum lessons to school years 7 to 11 and developed a Sixth Form rugby academy linked with London Irish. During his time at the school, Towers were Kent Emerging School 7s Champions for two years running.

Whilst in his Head of Rugby role, he also spent 3 seasons as Head Coach at Ashford Rugby Club coaching the 1st XV where they gained promotion in his first season from Kent 1 into London South 3, and then continued to develop in that league.

In 2016 Darren founded D.R. Rugby, his rugby coaching business, and works in several different educational establishments developing rugby across Kent.

Darren believes that everyone should be able to access playing rugby. For the past five years has delivered the SEND schools programme in partnership with Kent Rugby and Wooden Spoon where he delivers sessions in schools and provides playing opportunities at festivals. He is also part of the Kent Games Development Committee.

In 2017 Darren founded Rugby Taggers which was initially called “Tiny Taggers”. Over the years Rugby Taggers has developed a fantastic community where both children and parents can be involved. When children become ‘Taggers’ parents become ‘Stompy Parents’ and are encouraged to join in with in the 3-5 year group as it really helps the younger children to settle in and build their confidence. Rugby Taggers is held every Saturday morning at Marden Primary Academy in Kent, outside all year round and is the perfect introduction to rugby for children not just in Marden, but surrounding areas also.

In 2018 Darren was appointed Head of Rugby at Tonbridge Juddians where he continues working to develop the senior men’s teams at training during the week, supporting the ladies, academy, junior and mini sections and setting up community links with partner schools and colleges to ensure that the club continues to thrive. He has recently delivered rugby in the girls schools in Tonbridge and has now started a girls section at the rugby club.

Listed below are all D R Rugby Associate Schools, Clubs and Businesses Darren worked within 2019, 2020, 2021 and now into 2022.