28/10/2021
Honored to be highlight by the Waratahs.
Humans of Rugby - Entry 4, Dale Winslow.
"Being bought up in New Zealand, Rugby was in my blood with all members of my family playing or being involved at some stage. I was four years old when I laced up a set of plastic boots for Western United Rugby Club. Dad was my coach in that first year and my brother was also in that team.
Since then Rugby has been a major part of my life, playing schoolboy reps, representing both Auckland and North Harbour, and playing in the old NPC in New Zealand for the West Coast in Greymouth.
I initially moved from New Zealand to Wollongong for a season with the University, before heading to Sydney, playing a couple of games for Norths lower grades. Relocating to the Gold Coast I linked up with Gold Coast
Eagles and spent three enjoyable years there playing all grades and winning a couple of championships.
Moving back to Sydney for work I lived in Ermington (which is home territory of the Dundas Valley Vikings). This involved four years of fantastic Rugby in NSW Subbies, playing and winning championships in 2nd
and 3rd Grade for the Vikings and spending my last year there as 1st Grade Captain.
I headed overseas for a six month stint in Indianapolis USA, then moved back to Cairns where I spent three great years playing for the Brothers Rugby club. I was lucky enough to be captain in 2002, leading my side to a Premiership.
Moving back to NSW we settled in the Central Coast, where we still live. I was involved with three clubs on the Coast - The Entrance Rams, Ourimbah and Warnervale. I was lucky enough to coach the Central Coast u18's to
the Country Championships in 2004, and then spent a few years coaching u18's and
u20's before landing the role of Head Coach for the NSW Country u18's in 2010 and 2011. Here we had two successful tours of North America and Spain and still have contact with several of the players from these sides.
2009 saw the first Central Coast 7s tournament and I entered a side and my love of 7s Rugby grew from there. Five years later I met a couple of South African lads who where running a program out of Canberra called 'Ozboks' and they asked if I'd be interested in coming on board. We developed
this into one of the most successful local programs offering opportunities to players at events when their clubs did not. We won
several tournaments along the way, including Byron Bay, Southern Highlands, Mudgee and Samoan International Sevens in 2015.
I am currently working closely with two great mates from Queensland - Manuel Cole-Manolis and Andrew Curtain with 'Iconz Rugby'. It is one of Queensland's premier 7s programs and offer coaching clinics to several clubs in Brisbane.
Around this time I linked up with Francis Cullimore and he brought me on board with NSW 7s as Manager. For the past six years this has developed into a fantastic role as Program Manager for NSWRU 7s. We have had great success along the way with the u17's boys being undefeated at this stage
in the National Championships for the past six years and the girls have won the last three!
Rugby has been a massive part of my life over the past 50 years (wow, hard to believe) and I have been able to meet some fantastic people - Star, Scuba, Hammo, Steve, Cons, Francis, Marshall, Doylo and many more.
I've also attended some great events including the World Series 7s, Rio Olympics in 2016, Gold Coast Comm Games and RWC 7s in San Fran, but without the support of my family along the way I would not have been able to do any of the things I have done. So to my beautiful wife, Jane, my boys Nathan and Matthew and the twinkle in my eye, Rebecca, I couldn't be prouder and happier with the way you have supported me and my Rugby
obsession.
Rugby is a great family-based sport as I can testify to having had the privilege of coaching all three of my children. It provides great values in teamwork, bonding, passion, and allows people to express natural talent
that may go unnoticed. Here's to a few more years."
