Miika Valo sends word of some important initiatives being driven forward in the Finnish rugby community.
1. School rugby development project
An interesting
development is taking place with junior rugby in Finland, with an IRB
supported school tag-rugby initiative. SRL clubs have been invited to
deliver rugby lessons at schools, provide tag-rugby coaching to
PE-teachers as well as to kick-start their own age group rugby training
this autumn. The project has been carried out successfully, albeit with
limited exposure and follow-up, in Helsinki region in the past - the
project now aims to build on the good work of Juuso Siren (Warriors RC). The
project is generously funded by the IRB and we hope that clubs make a
good use of this exiting opportunity!
School sports are not exactly big in the Finnish
culture, and PE lessons are often conducted with kids running in jeans
and not taking the lesson too seriously (although not at the few
sports orientated schools). Furthermore, rugby is a much unknown
territory to Finns and if the teachers are not provided with good
training and follow-up support, there is a risk of doing more harm than
good (bad connotations, playing mixed aussie rules/ American football/
soccer with the ball) - the responsibility to get this right and provide
a positive push for the sport in the country lies on the shoulders of
the organising clubs. PE teachers cannot be left alone after the initial
training, like in rugby, continuity and support brings rewards! I look
forward to seeing how this plays out :)
In support of this initiative, SRL has organised few free Gold-memberships to a solid IRB affiliated coaching website RCD (http://rugbycoachingdrills.
2. Touch rugby initiative
The SRL
is preparing a touch-rugby competition for the winter of 2012-13. The
objectives of this project include providing a competitive and exciting
challenge for clubs during the otherwise dead off-season, developing
individuals, unit and team skills, motivating new players and increasing
potential recruitment.
More details to follow.
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