Shaun Wane and his first-team squad had an extra person at training earlier this week, when they were joined by a young Wigan Warriors fan.
14-year-old Oliver Waite and his family were on holiday in Florida when the opportunity came about to meet up with the Warriors squad – and give Oliver an extra special Christmas present.
“I’ve known Matty Peet (Wigan Warriors Under 19s Head Coach) for a few years now and when we heard that the Warriors were in Florida at the same time I just asked him if we could go and watch them train,” Oliver’s father, Anthony said.
“The next thing I had a text from Kris Radlinski telling Oliver to bring his boots! You can probably imagine his reaction when I told him! What an amazing opportunity!”
The family went across to meet the Warriors at their training base where Oliver, who plays for Siddal RL in Halifax, met his heroes and joined in a Warriors training session.
Anthony said: “He did the full session apart from the contact part, I don’t think Shaun Wane wanted him injuring any of his players! All of the Staff, the players and everyone involved were absolutely brilliant and made us feel so welcome. They all came over and introduced themselves and chatted with us, they were a credit to the Wigan Club and I can’t thank everyone enough.”
Oliver said: “I would just like to thank Matty Peet, Kris Radlinski and Shaun Wane for this amazing opportunity. Also all of the players who really made me feel welcome. This just makes me more determined to follow my dreams of being a super league player in the future.”
Rugby General Manager Kris Radlinski said: “As a Club we try to treat our fans well as we really do appreciate them. When Anthony got in touch with us I had a chat with Shaun and he suggested we let Oliver train with us. He handled himself really well and it was a great to see how much it meant to him and his family.”
