White Rose Rugby have been funded and have on-going funding from Yorkshire Sport Foundation and North Yorkshire Sport foundation to deliver Change Through Rugby sessions. Through this project we deliver large amounts of SEN/ESOL and Mixed ability sessions across the county.
We also work closely with IMAS and other SEN facilities around Yorkshire. Within our coaching team we have many coaches who specialise in this type of delivery.
As well as delivering the sessions, we have also created strong links within grassroots mixed ability teams, further helping to aid the transition to grassroots rugby for all.
White Rose Rugby have worked closely with Craven College over the year. We have ran numerous sessions, most of which are a part of the Change through Rugby project.
We have delivered SEN and Young leaders sessions at the college and worked closely with the college to help the students achieve their goals and targets.
As part of the project funded by North Yorkshire Sport we delivered SEN session’s for 10 weeks. The aim of the sessions was to get the group more active and create the opportunity for possible transition to grassroots rugby clubs.
As well as this we helped students from the ‘Public Services’ course with their young leaders courses and tutored them with advice and top tips to coaching. We also gave them the opportunity to deliver sessions and give creative feedback to Peer’s and themselves about their coaching. This helped them further develop their leadership and coaching skills. Further to this, we enabled the young leaders to learn about refereeing, which gave them further knowledge of the sport.
The SEN group had many individual successes. Such as, becoming more confident, more active and more participation within the sessions. Our coaches ran enjoyable sessions with varying developments tailored to each participant to ensure development was made.
Within the future we hope to get the chance to continue delivering young leaders sessions with the college and continue to strengthen the bond between the SEN students and local grassroots rugby clubs.
Bridget Slater
Craven College Tutor:
‘The students said that they really enjoyed working with you and your coaches. They learnt a lot about rugby and enjoyed playing all the games. They felt much more confident about playing the game after you’d been and would really like to play more if at all possible.’
Our Change through Rugby sessions at Tadcaster Grammar School ran for 10 weeks. We delivered SEN and mixed ability sessions as well as Girl’s sessions. These sessions were funded by North Yorkshire Sport.
As part of the Change through Rugby project we delivered 10 weeks of rugby at Wakefield College. We delivered to an SEN and ESOL group of participants with the initial aim of trying out some wheel chair rugby.
ESOL stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages. This meant some members of the group were unable to speak English and struggled with communication verbally.
This was also one of the first opportunities for the students to take part within a rugby session. As mentioned above, initially we started wheel chair rugby sessions, but due to availability of the wheelchairs, we re-focused on an 02 touch style of rugby.
After the 10 weeks of delivery the group became more active and began to gain a greater understanding of rugby. The group finished the 10 weeks being able to play touch and pass rugby which was a brilliant outcome for the group.
For many individuals, it was great to see them becoming more active and getting involved more.
The future plan for Wakefield College would be for them to continue playing rugby within their group at College.
Above are images of some cards that were sent to our coach Matt by the group. To read more about the testimonials above please click here.
Introduction
White rose rugby has been delivering into Beechchliffe school for over 2 years now with it being a big success and participants really getting involved with the sessions. Our key focus for the sessions is for them to be as enjoyable as possible as well as providing the pupils with new skills and socialisation.
What was the IMPACT on the young people?
Throughout the weeks of delivery, we have seen a vast improvement in rugby-based skills. From the first few weeks where we covered passing and catching there has been big improvements as we have started to play touch rugby and putting participants into game scenarios. Most participant that take part In the sessions have mobility issues and by getting involved in our session it can massively help with physical health as well as mental health.
Has there been an improvement in physical/mental health, confidence, ability?
We believe that the whole group has gained new rugby related skills as well as improvements in things like balance, coordination and agility. There has also been as big gain confidence from all participants.
What has stood out about these sessions?
What stand out about these session is seeing the enjoyment that they participants get out of it . As well as seeing the smiles on the faces of the participants and the progression in their ability’s. Every session is adapted to meet the specific needs whether it be behavioural needs or physical.
Success stories:
From our delivery we have has some interest from some of the post 16 student who are interested in a career in rugby coaching. Therefore, we are looking at getting some funding to help support them and hopefully deliver a sports leaders qualification. Providing them with a chance to progress in a career in rugby coaching.