New Diss Rugby Club Vixens head coach Jazmin Wones praises side and club’s ‘family network’

From her first weeks as Diss Vixens head coach, Jazmin Wones has been impressed with her side’s motivation and how the club have made the women’s team feel valued, as they begin their preparations for the 2024/25 Women’s NC 2 Midlands (East) campaign.

The former Southwold player was officially confirmed as the Vixens’ new head coach last week following a successful month of leading the pre-season training sessions.

While the side, who finished third from bottom last term, have only completed fitness drills – before turning their attentions to skills-based work – Wones has already seen enough to know that the group are striving for an improvement this season.

“I can see really good potential in certain aspects of their skillbase, and I know their general basis is they would like to be better than last season,” she said.

“I feel like that is a good motivation to have. The improvements have been so prevalent in the last few weeks and they’ve really got to base with things that I’m trying to implement.

“Their understanding of responsibilities in the game is improving massively. Because they haven’t had the ‘you’re doing this because’ attitude in training, there’s been a lot of skillsets we’ve been working on and we’ve been putting it into practice with scenarios that might be faced in a game.”

Wones arrives at Mackenders with an abundance of playing experience, having started her career at Beccles before captaining the Eastern Counties Under-18s side.

Following a move to London, Wones, who admitted she has adopted a player-coach role in a lot of the clubs she has plied her trade at, then joined Surrey and also gained Premiership appearances at Richmond.

Having also coached Teddington Boys Under-16s, Wones admitted her experience of playing in Diss’ league will be ‘very crucial’ to having a successful campaign.

“I already have relationships with other teams and know a lot of people, so I know where their strengths and weaknesses are in a certain aspect,” she said.

“I feel like the Diss team are very motivated to succeed, especially (from what I’ve seen) with the teams that I’ve played for.

“We’ve got a strong side, there’s still lots and lots of things to work on, but as we’re getting good numbers we’re already seeing some good changes in the last couple of weeks which has been really good.”

Wones is not the only new face at Diss this summer, with a brand-new committee spearheading the club, led by chairman Stephen Drake, and the appointment of Alex Kelsall as men’s first-team head coach.

Drake highlighted one of his goals is to make the Mackenders side ‘the best community rugby club’ in the local area, and Wones has certainly noticed that to be the case.

“The team are really passionate and really supportive, and it’s a big family network at Diss which is lovely,” she said.

“I know at the moment Diss are really committed to their one-club initiative, so there’s a big drive at the moment with the women’s side.

“The club are making sure we’re getting the suitable facilities that we need and they’re trying to bring all of the players, coaches and supporters together, which is really, really valuable because with the women’s side you want to feel like you’re valued and supported within the club.”

The Vixens are always on the look out for new players to join them or their girls’ side. Call Laura Claxton on 07516 178805 for more information.