From school expulsion to Bristol Bears Academy 🐻 | Routes Into Rugby with Ugo Monye

In the first episode of our new series, Routes into Rugby, Ugo Monye joins Clifton College student and Bristol Bears academy player James to discuss his unconventional route into rugby and look at how the sport has helped his development.

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So we are here at Clifton College in Bristol to speak to a remarkable young man, James. James, unfortunately didn’t have the brightest start into life, but through rugby certainly has been able to find himself and now is one of the students here at this amazing school. Across this series, we’re going to be speaking to all different kinds of people and understanding and discovering their Routes Into Rugby. So James, your route into rugby is perhaps slightly less traditional than what we’re used to hearing about. Let’s start with your childhood. What was it like growing up in your household? Well I started with an abusive household. Things just weren’t really going too well, didn’t really care about school too much, didn’t really get along with school, didn’t get along with rugby. There was a point where I wanted to quit rugby, didn’t really find the fun in it. But my coach was sort of messaging my mum. And then it got to a certain point where he was messaging my mum, he was like “Do you want me to drive down and I’ll come pick him up from the house, if you want?” Which sort of scared me out of bed because I was, will he actually come down? If I was with another club and they didn’t have a coach that was like that, I would have quit a long time ago and I wouldn’t have been involved with stuff at this school and just with Bristol Bears Academy and stuff like that. Do you think that they felt as if rugby was perhaps a safe haven away from maybe some of the other issues that you had in your life? I think at the end of the day, they were just sort of trying to get me out and trying to get me with people sort of my own age. Just get me out, have a bit of fun. I mean, because on the pitch, it wasn’t too serious at the time. You sort of run around and have a bit of a laugh and then, yeah, it’s fun. So home life disruptive, perhaps not the happiest of memories for you. And then you briefly touched upon school. You didn’t love school, did you? I got expelled from my first school in year seven. It was mainly because of attendance, just not getting along with stuff, not bringing in work, fighting and everything. I just wasn’t really behaving and they just didn’t really see the time of day for me. So they kicked me out. But I went to a behaviour school for about two years and I really enjoyed it. I think that sort of threw me and it sort of was like, I don’t really need to misbehave. Everyone is getting along and found it more fun. And was rugby still a constant during your time at behavioural school? I think because I was starting to do a bit better in school, I started to do a bit better in rugby because I just started enjoying stuff in general more because that was when I started to be selected for more games and getting more game time. I think I was just happier in general It’s been that middle block that’s been like if I wasn’t enjoying school or something like that, that I could go out and then it’s sort of like something I can just focus on, take my mind off of everything I’m doing at the moment, just sort of getting rugby and just do that. How did this come about? My mum was like, you can go do this trial thing down at Clifton College. So I was like, I’ll give it a shot. I might as well. I never really thought, it’d be a thing. I thought it’s more of like a joke. I didn’t take it seriously but came down and gave it a go. I really enjoyed it, actually. I came along and I was like, this place is mad compared to what I’ve seen before. I don’t think it’s quite hit me at the start. I think I just came and it was so not natural for what I’m used to. I think I was just like, it just flew straight over my head. It was just like, this won’t ever happen. It’s just something that’s out of my reach. To go to a school like this, is pretty expensive to your average person, how did your family, how did your mother how was she able to navigate that situation? I think there was a lot of conversations about what we could afford and what we couldn’t afford. We weren’t able to fund a lot of it because coming here would have been way out of our reach. I think they were able to be very generous with a lot of stuff that I’ve managed to get, which I’m really thankful for. Having a scholarship or having an opportunity like this can change someone’s life. People’s generosity and schemes like that effectively impacted and changed my life, and I hope it has the same impact on you as has the Star Scheme. Tell us all about it? From the start, they’ve been encouraging and helping my coaches encourage me to comes training. I think it was last summer they took me to France and the whole thing was paid for and stuff and I did a charity cycle on part of the Tour de France. So that cycle ride was more than just cycling, wasn’t it? Because from everything that I hear, you cycled further than any young person cycled before, 118 kilometers through the Pyrenees, quite steep. So must have been a challenge on your legs. But in terms of the best illustration of the growth within you was you then delivering a speech to so many people about your experiences. Have you been able to reflect on the person that you’re becoming as well as everything that you’ve achieved, not just in the saddle? Three years ago, if someone told me to do this, I would have turned them down. I didn’t have the self-confidence for that. On each of the food stops I was at, I was able to just have a little chat with someone. I’m able to talk to so many different people and get to know them that it’s like it’s become a lot easier for me to do. With rugby and with like the scholarships and stuff like that. I believe that it’s like really helped me outside to like be able to talk to people with my self confidence and just how I just do stuff on a daily basis. Taking the opportunity. You’re at an amazing school, got a scholarship, everything’s going really well and rugby’s getting even better because you’re now a part of the Bristol Bears Academy as well. Isn’t that right? I’ve been with them for since I was at Backwell School when that was when I joined back from my behaviour school. So that was when everything started to get a bit better, and that’s when I started to get a bit more game time. That’s when I started to enjoy the sport more. It didn’t really feel like it was an academy. It just felt more like a club, I was enjoying it when I was there. And I think because I was enjoying it, it went through quickly. And now it’s where I am now. So Chew Valley your local rugby club, tell us about the relationship that you have there? I mean, it started rough. With the help of my coach, Mark Anderton, he sort of kept me in with it. I got involved with a lot more sort of stations down at the club, like working and stuff, volunteering. I’ve coached my brother’s group, their forward park. That was more of like a thing because I enjoyed the sport. So I was like, I want to get more experiences, like if you teaching something, you’re going to be picking up points yourself, you are reiterating stuff. And then there’s stuff like the work and stuff I do down there. I do it most weekends when there’s matches, keep involved as much as I can with it. Then you’re going to make the step into adult rugby as well. How much are you looking forward to that? What are the challenges? What are you most excited about? I felt like the transition with stuff like the Bristol Bears, they help you go from child rugby to adult rugby. I think it’s a nice sort of gradual system to bring you up and make you ready for it and prepare you. So I feel like in about now to a years time, I feel confident to take that step. So what are the ambitions for the future? Definitely planning to continue with what I’m doing, going down, getting better at rugby. If it doesn’t continue, I think I probably go on and do something in a university or something, continue with rugby, but I probably would just keep up with the club and just try to get involved with as much rugby as I can. And what difference do you think rugby’s made to your life? A massive difference. If I didn’t have rugby, I don’t know where I would be, I think I’d be just I wouldn’t be too happy. I feel like I’d just not have that sort of activity to keep me busy, to keep my mind off things and stuff like that. I think that’s also helped with me making a lot of my friends, because when I joined Backwell, a lot of the people that I was mates with at first were from the rugby team, so I think that was able to sort of get me out, get me out doing something. The one thing that rugby does do is it tries to graduate everything, to make people feel comfortable going at their own pace. I think you’ll be absolutely fine. You’ve gone from a bloke that didn’t want to have a conversation, didn’t want to be at school, found the coaches within rugby annoying and probably still do actually. To getting on a plane, cycling 118 kilometers. I think you’ll be just fine in your transition. I wish you the very best of luck. And so how did you try and create a sense of focus? Because things wouldn’t have always been that easy for you. How did you some point accept that perhaps just what you’ve got to get on the day, do you think? Actually just having like a smaller group of people, perhaps a greater sense of concentration, more towards your personality or what you need at that point? Yeah, know, and I sort of looked at it and I was like, I felt more comfortable because I was in lessons with about three people in total. I had more focus from the teacher because obviously they had less people to focus on. We didn’t necessarily do too many like different sort of subjects, so it was like very narrow and just like specifically with like with the stuff, I wanted to do it and if I didn’t want to do something, I would just say I don’t want to do it. And they’d just let me sort of stay out of it. So I think having that option of what I wanted to do and what like how many people were in my thing, I believe that sort of really helped me focus. I think there was like a lot of backgrounds and work between like Christian and done with and my mum and stuff, and they all sort of were so in the stuff out behind the scenes sort of. I think there was a lot of conversation about what we could afford and what we couldn’t afford. But yeah, we weren’t able to obviously fund a lot of that because coming here would have been way out of our reach. So that was a massive sort of point behind that. I think they were able to be very generous with a lot of the stuff that I’ve managed to get on, which I’m really thankful for. But yes. It’s amazing those what could be considered those small actions without consistency about persistence can lead to massive moments like where you are today. It’s crazy. Yeah. No, I definitely think about that like a lot. Like I’ve said it to my brothers before, like they’ve even they’ve been like, Imagine if you coach and say this. I imagine if you didn’t coach, then try foolish of training, which is like something I find I sort of need. I need that sort of extra kick to be like, Yeah, you need to get up and do it. I was I won’t really. There will be times where I’ll be like, I can’t really be asked. I just want to sit and say, down, lie down. It’s come full circle. Yeah. As a player, know your coach and are you involved in the matchdays and everything? That sense of community, does that mean a lot to you? Yeah, I think it means a lot more than I take for granted at times. Like if I didn’t go to the table, if I didn’t have to valley, I felt like I wouldn’t really be where I am now. I think that was sort of the place where it sort of bore everything for me. wow. So it’s cool that just through Rock Band, through the schemes that you’ve been able to go to Tour de France, he’s got nothing to do with rugby. Yeah, cycling and rugby. We don’t really cover to the way. So being able to have that experience let you say go abroad, get on a plane. So it’s not just about rugby and its own ecosystem, but it’s about your life experience. So you enjoy it. Yeah. No. Yeah, because I was able to go there and that was the first time I tried to see food light set and see foods of it. It was actually great. Yeah, I love the river, but yeah, so at first I’m on a plane first times. I like cycling past like I think I was like ten kilometers or something. and then, yeah, it was the first time I’ve been on a plane, so it’s just everything was like a first time. So it’s just great. I enjoyed every little bit of it. Was your first introduction to rugby? What I dream about. It was like the end of time. Rugby, I think is like I did a one year tag rugby and then it was sort of into contact. Okay, cool. And then with that in mind, do you feel a sense responsibility to make the most of this opportunity now? I had a conversation with one of my mates ages ago because we went on there, we went to a trip and was and we were just late and I just have a little conversation and I was saying because I wasn’t too sure I was stuck on the fence between going to a college where I’m with my mates all come into here and like just smashing out for two years and doing everything I can to make the most of it. And one of the things I said was if I didn’t make the most of it here, he would wouldn’t have been my mate. So there’s no point in me going to college with them because safe out of that, I gave this up that you would just be like, Yeah, I’m not sad with you. He’s a good friend. Yeah, Yeah. So I’m really thankful for that. It was like that was sort of the point where I was like, Yeah, I’ve got to take this opportunity.