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Focusing on Young Volunteers
We aim to provide and support quality experiences for young volunteers
which will result in them being lifelong participants in our sport. Providing
opportunities for anyone aged between 14 – 24 years old who
is interested in getting involved in volunteering and leadership
within Rugby Union.
Recruit - Young people can be identified through many different
groups and organisations including:
Rugby clubs
Schools
Colleges
Universities
Constituent Bodies (CB)
Sports Leaders UK
Step into Sport
Duke of Edinburgh
Community Groups & Programme
Volunteer agencies
Armed Forces
Train - Recognising the importance of providing support and
training to allow young people to develop. The Leadership and
Volunteering Curriculum provides guidance on
the training opportunities available for young people.
Deploy - There are numerous chances to get involved, the
following link provides a Menu of
Opportunities for young volunteers. It is a non-exhaustive list of
roles, placements, projects and ideas for where young people can get
involved.
Recognise - Saying ‘Thank You’ to those young people who have
shown commitment to leadership and volunteering is important, both to
acknowledge the valuable contribution young people make, and to retain
them in the sport. On the following link you can view the The RFU Youth Volunteering & Leadership Pathway. There
are a range of RFU schemes to recognise young people including, but not
limited to:
The President's
XV Awards, includes a Young Volunteer category.
- Volunteers aged 14 – 24 years
old can be nominated to receive RFU Nike branded ‘stash’ (e.g a hoody or
fleece)
- Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates
are available to recognise the efforts of young volunteers who
have achieved 10, 25 and 50 hours of volunteering work
respectively
- For outstanding achievements, a number
of extra special Young Volunteer plus (YV+) opportunities are
identified at regional or national, for example ball boys at
County and Premiership games, being a microphone runner pitch side
at Twickenham and even standing as the guard of honour as the
England Team run out at Twickenham.
- The National Young Leaders Camp offers
recognition and development for the top young volunteers and
leaders.
Xaverian College delivers Tag Rugby Festival to inner city
Manchester
vRugby linked in as part of the
first year BTEC Sport and the second year HSLA courses, at in inner
city Manchester College. Students were tasked with planning, organising
and delivering a Tag Rugby Festival, to be held on the college campus.
Due to the amazing fundraising for this event the students made a
charitable donation in excess of £250.00.
vRugby introduces Tag rugby to
local schools
in Gambia
vRugby went truly global when
the school travelled to Gambia and introduced Tag rugby at one of the
local schools. The school trip was organised through the Gunjur Project in Gambia to help with the on-going
construction of a nursery school in the small village of Kajabang. During their stay they had the
opportunity to visit the local secondary school, Sifoe
Senior Secondary School. The local students were told that the English
students would be teaching them how to play ‘Tag rugby’. As word spread
around the school the number of Gambian students wanting to experience
this brand new game grew until they numbered almost 60, both boys and
girls.
Telford Hornets RFC
volunteers car wash event helps improve club facilities
Two volunteers, Kirsty Price and Adam Price,
who are brother and sister, wanted to improve the clubs disabled access
facilities given that a few of the parents from the junior section were
disabled and were restricted on their movements around the club during
match days. They set about looking at funding to raise the cash to buy
the materials to put in place a concrete ramp with the correct specifications
to allow access for wheelchairs. They planned and ran a car wash event
during a 1st XV, 2nd XV and 3rd XV home game weekend with the other
young volunteers, where they raised £125 worth of funds towards the
materials. The construction of the ramp was carried out after advice
being sought from members of the club who work within the construction
and surveying industries.
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RFU.com Quick Links
Youth Activators - Get Involved
Bassinborn Barracks, Hertfordshire
September 1 – 4, 2011
An opportunity for full training for Youth Activators will be held at Bassinborn Barracks. The Camp will be run by staff
from the Rugby Football Union and is designed to help you in your Youth
Activator role. Activities will include Team Building, Mentoring
Skills and Personal Action Plans. This role would be most
beneficial for someone looking to get experience in sports development,
rugby coaching, and leadership roles within business or sport. For
details and to apply download the flyer
Your Game, Your Voice,
Get it heard!
The RFU National Youth Council (NYC) was
created in 2009 as a tool to establish the youth opinion on the game of
rugby union in England. NYC members play an important role in the
development of vRugby, they will act as
mentors for the Youth Activators, feeding back information, thoughts
and ideas on how the programme can continually develop.
The NYC consists of eleven members from a
diverse spread of the youth game. A variety of locations, roles, ages,
educational background, careers, pathways and genders are represented.
The main thing every member has in common is a passion for rugby union
and improvement of the game.
The NYC is the only sporting youth group to
have a direct link into the decision making and management process of
its sport. The NYC currently sits as part of the Schools, Colleges and
Universities Sub-Committee (SCUS) which in turn feeds into the
Community Game Board (CGB). For more information
go to RFU.com.
Eastern Counties two-day workshop with army staff help
More than 30 young volunteers took part
from across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk to a two-day event was
the first of its kind to take place in Eastern Counties. Each county
rugby union was asked to nominate their most promising young leaders,
aged
16 – 19 years old, to attend the camp. During the two days, the 33
volunteers took part in a series of workshops giving them the
opportunity to develop their leadership skills in different settings.
The workshops included coaching, refereeing, event planning and
effective teamwork. The group were also put through their paces by army
staff from the camp. The programme was designed by a management team
that included the county vRugby Activators and RFU staff. Sean Hughes, Vrugby county activator for Cambridgeshire, and
Mark Stammers, Vrugby county activator for
Suffolk, played major roles in the successful delivery of the event.
Your local RFU Volunteer Executives
For more information on what opportunities are available locally, to
request certificates, nominations forms and more details on recognition
for young people, please contact your local Rugby Development Officer
or Volunteer Executive:
London & South East:
Alex Hadley, 07872 672 478, alexhadley@rfu.com
South & South West:
Rachel Brown, 07590 890872, rachelbrown@rfu.com
Midlands & Eastern Counties: Alex Thompson, 07894 489756, alexthompson@rfu.com
North: Mike Hart, 078944 89755, mikehart@rfu.com
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