I started to work with Bath Mixed Ability Rugby (or Walcot Warriors as they were called at the time) three years ago. The first person I met was Dave the coach. “Welcome to Hotel California” he said. I was meant to be doing a single shoot to help with social media, but as the final line of the song says “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” I have photographed them for the majority of training sessions and matches ever since.

This club is a special place. You can read elsewhere about what the club is about and what it does. But it is special to me because of its spirit. Every training session, no matter what the weather (and we’ve had quite some weather), and no matter what has been happening to people that week, there is infectious laughter all around the pitch. Every week players help each other, learn from each other, friendships are formed or strengthened; you can literally see confidence growing as players play and develop. It is intoxicating.

The more I have worked with the team, the more confident the players have become in working with me. I have the pleasure of being almost invisible to them now, allowing me to try to make work which captures the spirit of both the individuals and the team, captures the laughter, captures the weather and the fact that everyone turns up no matter how bad it gets, captures the commitment of the parents, carers and guardians, captures the affection and support that this team has in spades.

I hope I have done the team justice with this small selection of photographs.