Discover the stories, experiences and contributions of members of the Old Owl community.
A Rugby Union coach in both the 15-a-side and 7 a-side versions of the game. A Level 4 qualified coach and coach educator.
Born in Harare, Middleton was schooled at Hellenic Junior School in the city before proceeding to Pietermaritzburg High School in South Africa for his first two years of high school before returning home to attend Watershed College in Marondera (1991 -1996) He was captain of the Watershed College first team rugby in 1995 and 1996.
Liam started his coaching career with the u/15s team at Howick High School in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa in 2000.
In January 2002 he left South Africa and joined the coaching staff of the Hartpury College Rugby Academy; a joint venture between the college and Premiership club Gloucester RFC in Gloucestershire, England as the Performance Manager. He coached the Hartpury 1stXV with former Wales Assistant Coach, Allan Lewis. During his tenure the Academy 1stXV won the British University Championship in 3 consecutive seasons and the college’s first University 7s title. During this time the Academy produced 9 fully capped international players, one British and Irish Lion and several International 7s players. Middleton also coached England Colleges and the British Colleges teams whilst at Hartpury.
In 2008 the RFU created a new Talent Identification role, Liam was employed in this role in 2008.
Following this he joined Bristol Rugby Club (BRFC)in June 2009 as Academy Manager where his reputation for identifying and developing talented players was created. The Academy process established by Middleton produced 13 Bristol 1stXV status and notably England and British and Irish Lions prop Mako Vunipola. During the 2010 season Middleton assisted Paul Hull in the coaching of the Bristol 1st XV where they were winners of the British and Irish Cup, beating Bedford Blues in the final. In July 2011 Liam was promoted to Head Coach of Bristol Rugby Club. Known as an innovative and tactically astute coach, he guided the Bristol First team from 8th place in the RFU Championship to 1st place, topping the league by 7 clear points. During his time in charge he led the Club on their longest run of home victories in the clubs history, and boasted an unbeaten record against perennial Championship performers Bedford Blues.
In September 2012 he was named as an Assistant Coach for the Championship XV to play against the New Zealand Maoris,but withdrew due to family commitments. Middleton left Bristol Rugby Club in March 2013 replaced by former Scotland Head Coach, Andy Robinson. Liam Middleton was Director of Rugby at Cheltenham RFC from 2005 to 2009,guiding them to promotion to the National Leagues in 2009, where the team scored a record number of league tries in the Clubs history.
Sevens Coaching
Sevens Coaching Liam Middleton was Head Coach of the Zimbabwe 7s team from June 2004 to December 2010. Known as the ‘Cheetahs’, he developed the National 7s team into a recognised competitive team on the World Sevens Series. Middleton led the Cheetahs to the 2009 Rugby World Cup 7s in Dubai where they won an impressive 4 out of their 6 games, culminating in a Bowl Final victory against Ireland. In 2006, he was named Head Coach of the Great Britain Students 7s team for the World University Games 2006 in Rome where the team were Silver medallists. Canada Rugby appointed Middleton as Head Coach of the Canada 7s team in 2014. Most notably he became the first coach of a Canadian rugby team to beat New Zealand when the team overcame the All Black Sevens team at the Tokyo 7s in April 2015, repeating the feat again in Cape Town in Dec 2015. Middleton led the Canada 7s team to a Gold Medal at the Pan Am games in July 2015. In 2016, he led the home nation in its inaugural home tournament in the Vancouver leg of the World Sevens Series. Despite a narrow loss in their opening match the team went on to win all five of their remaining games culminating in a spectacular Bowl Final win over France.
Is a former international Zimbabwean cricketer. He bowls left-arm orthodox spin.
Price was born two months prematurely and contracted meningitis when he was a few months old. He was given only a one in four chance of survival, but he survived it. However, although it was not realised for some time, he was left totally deaf by the disease. When he was four, he had an operation to regain his hearing. The operation was successful, but left him with terrible coordination difficulties. He was consequently some way behind his age group when he went to school.
Price first played cricket with friends in his back garden. When he was at primary school he was a pace bowler, but took up spin at Watershed College, a boarding school near Marondera. He gradually got better and better at cricket, ending up as a key figure for the school team.
Early career
He had attracted the attention of the Mashonaland County Districts cricket side, and he made his first-class debut in 1995/6, although only as an amateur. He was a trained installer of refrigeration and air conditioning units during this period of his career.
In 2003 Price toured England and impressed everyone who saw him bowl. He was rated as a better spinner than the English spinner Ashley Giles. It was in that winter’s tour of Australia, however, that Ray truly established himself as a world-class bowler, taking 6–121 in the second Test at Sydney. Against the West Indies back home that winter Price ran through their strong batting line-up twice, taking 6–73 and 4–88 in the first Test at Harare and then again in Bulawayo, taking 5–119 and 4–36. He played a pivotal role in Zimbabwe’s series win over Bangladesh that winter too, taking 8 wickets in two Tests. He was becoming disaffected with the politicisation of Zimbabwean cricket however, and in 2004 he joined the player rebellion led by captain Heath Streak. Soon afterwards he signed for Worcestershire and announced an ambition to play for England.
Price has built up a devoted following among supporters of other counties. His appearance at the 2005 Bath Festival was met with jubilation by his fans as they chanted his name throughout the day. His clever left arm spin bamboozled Somerset that day as ‘Ray’s Barmy Army’ went through a selection of pop hits based on the popular Zimbabwe international.
Late career
In 2006 Price revealed to the Press Association that he hoped to play international cricket again – for England after the required qualification period.
In 2007 he made a surprise return to Zimbabwe, and played in several National League matches for Old Hararians. Some believed this might have been a hint to the national selectors, with the 2007 World Cup approaching. However, he was not selected for the Zimbabwe squad.
Price rejected a one-year contract with Worcestershire at the end of the 2007 season, ending his three and a half-year spell at the club.
In late 2007, he officially returned to the Zimbabwe team. He was selected for the Zimbabwe squad to play the West Indies. Ever since, he has been a regular and influential member of the team, used to dry up runs and to take crucial wickets. He has been one of many rebel cricketers who have returned due to the improving situation in Zimbabwe. He has had a superb comeback to the Zimbabwe cricket team, rising to 3rd in the ICC Cricket ODI Bowling Rankings, taking 45 wickets in just 27 matches, while bowling very economically. He played in all ODIs for Zimbabwe in 2009, against the South Africa cricket team, the Bangladesh cricket team, the Sri Lanka cricket team and the Kenya cricket team. Price was unsold at the original IPL 2011 player auction in January and Mumbai Indians bought him at his reserve price of $50,000, in place of the injured Moises Henriques. He became only the second Zimbabwean to play in the IPL.
Bryan is a Certified Adwords Manager, and an official trainer for google South Africa. As one of the original and first players in the SEO industry, Bryan has been able to mould a digital marketing strategy that is unmatched. His skills and experience well sought after. Bryan’s passion has always been in training and transferring his skills. Being selected as a Google Partner Academy trainer has led him to training and empowering youth through the Digify Program.
Bryan has built a company that is modelled around young adult employment and many of his employees have arrived directly from the Digify Program and have now excelled in the digital marketing space with skills that are streets ahead of the industry.
In Karen’s final year at Watershed College she was head of school, house captain, athletics captain, president of interact and choir leader.
Karen was the recipient of the Tembo Trust Scholarship for tuition and studied at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. Karen worked there after completing her studies and then came back home to settle in 2009. She is now the CEO of Fine and Country Zimbabwe, a real estate which is part of the international real estate group. Karen also sits on the board of Watershed College as a member.
After leaving Watershed College Jason Black went on to obtain a BEng (Hons), Mechanical and Environmental Engineering and a MEng, Engineering with Business Management from the University of Brighton, UK. By trade Jason is a Mechanical Engineer, and is currently the Design Manager at Brand Energy and Infrastructure Services, UK.
Jason Black was one of the founding students at Watershed College. He had a condition known as Cerebral Palsy. Jason made every effort to participate in all aspects of school life. In honour of Jason’s determination Watershed College at the annual speech night; awards the Jason Black trophy to someone that is handicapped in one way or another, but puts in every effort to achieve against all their limitations and does not use their handicap as an excuse for not trying.
