Young Gun: Gloucester centre Jack Reeves
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Jack Reeves is coveted with one of the Premiership's great supporting casts in senior centres Mark Atkinson, Billy Twelvetrees and Chris Harris, but no influence will equal that of his late father who passed away last April after a sudden heart attack.
The Gloucester centre, 21, has pinned his hopes on earning a Premiership debut in from of The Shed at Kingsholm as he embarks on life with the first team fresh from signing a new contract this summer.
His place within professional rugby, he says, would never have been possible without the driving force of his father Ross at his side.
“I owe everything to him really, I wouldn't be here today playing professional rugby if it wasn't for him,” Reeves told TRP. “He took me to training every Saturday morning and wouldn't blink an eye, he was always the first one up in the morning.
“I can't give enough praise for what he did for me.
“He was the one who took me to my first rugby session when I was six-years-old. He played for Bristol when he came over from Canada.
“He coached me from when I was five at Dursley RFC to when I joined the Gloucester academy. As much as it annoyed my mum, he carried on coaching and didn't stop.
“I left and he carried on with the Colts and played for the seconds and thirds at the age of 59. He was mad for it.”
Together with many of his old teammates at Dursley RFC, Reeves scaled Mount Snowdon last year and raised £12,000 for the British Heart Foundation and says new challenges are in the pipeline.
With the new season kicking off last weekend and a return for the Premiership Cup confirmed, the former England U20 back is plotting his way to a senior debut by edging out for selection those who have been so helpful to his development in Atkinson, Twelvetrees and Harris.
“We have three worldclass centres; two of them are Lions and Aki (Mark Atkinson) has just been called up to the England training squad for the autumn,” added Reeves. “You couldn't ask for better people to learn off of.
“The last three years I have been in the academy, I've been like a sponge and absorbing all the information. There are some of the best in the game here and have competed at the highest level for a long time now, so you lea rn so much.
I feel lik e when I joined the acade my I was good at one or two things specifical ly but now I am so more r ounded as a player.
If you want to comp ete at the high- est le vel you can't just be a good ball carr ier, you have to have every skill and in th at sense I have not iced a huge difference.
“He (Atkinson) more than de serves his E ngland chance. T he last two or th ree seasons, he has been on e of the best ce ntres in the Pr emiership. It w ould be fan- ta stic to see him g et called up for the autumn inte rnationals.”
