New Home for Bears Women at High Performance Centre

Players and staff will be based at the world-class facilities in Abbots Leigh, where Dave Ward’s side will train, rehabilitate and complete their conditioning programmes at the High Performance Centre as Bears continue to drive alignment across the organisation.

The Bears Senior Academy programme will also be based at the Bears High Performance Centre, enabling the scholars to train and develop in an elite environment.

Director of Rugby Pat Lam said: “It’s always been part of the strategic plan to align the Bears Women’s programme to the men’s, and bring the senior Academy all under one roof. It’ll have a massively positive impact for our game and Bears Team Culture.

“We believe that the integration and sharing of ideas and best practice will lift performances for all of our Bears teams. The High Performance Centre is a place that Bears Women can call home and everything is in place for the team to achieve their performance objectives.

Chief Executive Mark Tainton said: “The Bears Women programme can be the best in the country and that’s our ambition. We are striving to inspire our community and this move will attract some of the brightest young talent to the Bears.

“The Lansdown family has provided us with one of the best rugby training facilities in the world, so it’s given us a platform to grow and develop our vision and programmes across men, women and Academy. There’s an expectation and impetus for Bears Women to be successful and to win silverware – this is a significant step towards that goal.”

Head Coach Dave Ward said: “It’s an incredibly exciting time for Bears Women. The opportunity for the players and staff to be in a high performance environment and to understand what world-class looks like will be massive for our development.

“The alignment with the men’s programme – from a coaching, medical and athletic performance standpoint – will really help to grow our game as we set our sights on the 2021/22 campaign.”

Bears Women's announcement coincides with Bristol City Women announcing that they will have a new home venue in the Robins High Performance Centre for the 2021/22 FA Championship season.