7
Briscoe says: ‘It’s fantastic that
the Sky Try funding has given
us this opportunity to give every
school free coaching. Every day
I’ll grab a bag of balls, cones
and equipment, hit the next
school on our list and get them
engaging with rugby.
‘These festivals then get the
children to transfer their skills
and enthusiasm to their local
community clubs. Hopefully
we’ll get some of these
children down to their nearest
club Latchford Albion next
week for training and they’ll
stay within the game from
there on.
‘Last term we held successful
festivals at Rylands Sharks,
Woolston Rovers and Culcheth
Eagles and they picked up at
least three or four players each
for their U8s and U9s.’
After finishing his playing career
in 2013, Briscoe worked with
Hull KR as U19 coach and
match day host. But the lure of
a job with the Warrington
Wolves Charitable Foundation
was too good to resist.
‘This was a fantastic chance for
me. It’s great to give something
back because I remember
being this age and how much I
enjoyed it. Hopefully we’ll see
kids going from grass-roots
level here to the England setup in 15 years’ time.’
Westwood, who organises the
festivals, community days and
pre-match 7s competitions at
Wolves home fixtures, says:
‘This term in Lymm we’ve
coached 1300 kids in 11 primary
schools and they’ve learned
the fundamentals of grip and
carry, catch and pass and tag
tackle. You can see by the
turnout how much the kids
have loved the coaching.
‘The response has been
absolutely fantastic. Ten from
each year group have come to
take part in the festival. We
could have tripled that size.
‘It gives them so much
confidence. Some of the little
ones are frightened initially but
once they come out and have a
go at it, you see them come out
of themselves. Some of the
kids here have ADHD and it’s
calmed them down finding
something like rugby they can
really engage in.’
Warrington Wolves’ Head of
Youth, Phil Jones, says the
foundation’s work in the
community is a crucial first
step in including rugby league
on the array of sports jostling
for children’s attention.
we’ve just taken on full-time
through a local scheme to help
out the long-term unemployed.
‘When he first came he had low
self-esteem and really lacked
confidence. But recently when
we sat down for dinner I asked
him what his ideal job would be.
His reply was, “I’m in it now!” I
think that speaks volumes.’
Find out more about Sky Try
and how your club could get
involved here.
‘We’ll hopefully
see kids going
from here to the
England set-up’
‘For me it’s not about getting
exclusivity on a player at this
early stage. It’s ensuring that
this becomes one of the sports
they enjoy and play among a
range of other sports over the
next few years. In their later
teens they might narrow it
down, and hopefully then
they’ll choose rugby league.’
There’s a noticeable team spirit
among the foundation staff.
Shortly after the festival, they
embarked on a two-day charity
bike ride together from
Warrington to Newcastle for
Magic Weekend. The National
Three Peaks challenge and a
‘Tough Mudder’ are also on the
calendar.
‘We’re a pretty close-knit team
at the foundation and we help
each other out,’ says
Westwood. ‘Something like this
bike ride is tough and
challenging but it brings us
closer together.’
An anecdote from Westwood
sums up the atmosphere of
inclusiveness and camaraderie:
‘The other day I was talking to
one of our volunteers who
The RFL have secured a seven
year funding partnership with
Sky to support grassroots
development of the sport in
the UK through the Sky Try
programme.
The objective of Sky Try is to
‘make a difference’ by
increasing the amount of
viewers, spectators and
participants in Rugby League.
The Sky Try Programme
intends to reach 100,000
people every year. This will be
achieved by introducing rugby
league to boys and girls in
primary and secondary
schools while supporting the
coaches and teachers
One of the projects is Sky Try
Primary League which targets
U8 & U9 (KS2) boys and girls
in the community and primary
school settings. At the
moment 22
Foundations and delivery
partners are delivering Sky
Try.