Melbourne RFC & Chellaston School Link
Melbourne Rugby Club and Chellaston School have developed a school link which is providing over 300 boys and girls with quality rugby every Sunday.
Chellaston is an 11-18 co-educational school on the outskirts of Derby. Eight years ago, Melbourne had 70 youth members but was struggling to provide facilities. Simon Ord (Chellaston Head of PE) identified how collaboration between the school and the club could benefit both parties. This was done by:
· Melbourne Rugby Club transferring its Mini and Junior section to Chellaston School
· An unoccupied caretakers bungalow was made into a clubhouse
The collaboration has lead to many benefits for the club, school and rugby in the area:
· Before the link, children had to travel 12 miles to the nearest Rugby club. The link provided convenient local rugby for South Derbyshire
· The link has allowed the Rugby Club to develop and become a leading Youth section in the NLD
o Over 300 playing members running teams from U7 to U17 and two girls teams
o Seal of Approval club
o All Junior teams have players playing representative rugby and have provided players to Tigers and Nott's Youth Academies
· Over 100 pupils have taken the RFU Young leaders course and coached at local schools and club. Eight are level one qualified. These coaches coach Tag Rugby at primary schools and the club on a Sunday
· Joint rugby tours have been run by the club and school including u15s this year to Leeds.
· Club coaches have supported rugby coaching at Chellaston and other schools
The link is dynamic and improvements are continually being made:
· The need to develop players through to Adult rugby has led to a decision to base the U16s to U18s back at the senior club. This has moved these players away from the Mini environment and given exposure to adult rugby.
· A 3g playing surface is planned to be installed at Chellaston in the summer along with a development of the club house and changing rooms. This has been partly funded by the RFU.
· School and club have become a coach education centre
· Club shop is now run by School Uganda project. Profits from shop fund pupils charitable visit to Uganda
· School link to be used as a model of good practise by RFU (Elisha Blackborough)
· Newly formed U17s team is top of NLD league
Both participants in the link are enthusiastic about the benefits it has brought:
Andrew Allman Chairman Melbourne Rugby Club: "Without this link, hundreds of children in the area would not be playing rugby. What would be a quiet empty space on a Sunday morning has been transformed into a screaming mass of children running about and loving rugby."
Simon Ord Head of PE stated "mutual benefits link brings to the school has been of paramount importance and has helped raise awareness of the fundamental values of sport within the local community"
ENTRY 2
Melbourne RFC Mums & Dads Show The Boys How It Is Done
To encourage involvement and volunteers at the club, Melbourne Rugby Club has undertaken a series of initiatives to get mums and dads on the rugby field. On the first Sunday of the season, astonished mini and junior players witnessed a 10 a side mums touch rugby game followed by a 15 a side dads full contact game.
The objective of the initiative was fourfold:
· to coach these mums and dads over the summer with a target of playing a game in the season
· to use these sessions to build friendships within the club
· to draw mums and dads into the club and generate extra volunteers
· to demonstrate to the children, that mums and dads were prepared to have a go as well
Training for the games took place as follows:
· Men's training took place on a Monday nights and all parents and coaches were invited along. Coaches took turns in taking the sessions which always finished with a game of Tag and a visit to the local pub. Approximately 15 - 25 people attended each session generating a real focus for the club pre season. The team became known as The Muffs (Melbourne Under Fifty Fives)
· Woman's training took place on Wednesday nights and was taken by the U13 coach. A mixture of approximately 20 mums and girls attended the sessions and their skills improved markedly over the summer. The team became known as the Fluffs (Female Under Fifty Fives)
The matches took place on the first Sunday of the season:
· The mum's game took part after training on the first Sunday of the season. 16 mums' took part and enjoyed their first game of rugby.
· The men's game took place straight afterwards with approximately 25 fathers. Numbers were made up by the local RDO and some 2nd team front row.
The matches and training were a huge success and exceeded all our expectations:
· They have provided a social focus for the club and many new friendships have been made
· They have allowed the players to better understand the game and it's ethos
· Conversations after the game have led to approximately 20 new volunteers being recruited for the club.
Volunteer recruitment has been aided enormously. All of the ladies who played have since become involved in kitchen duties and are regularly to be seen at the club. We have also recruited 3 welfare officers and a fixtures secretary. From the men's game we recruited three new coaches, a fund raising officer and a publicity officer.
Follow on benefits are that several of the men have continued to play rugby and have appeared for Melbourne 2nds and Vets. Men's training has continued and there is a basketball session at the school every Monday. The ladies have also posted a challenge to Derby mothers for a game
Andrew Allman - Melbourne Minis & Juniors Chairman
