ECB Coaches Association links Hitting the Seam 39 | Page 17

“Rather than simply using the same
tried-and-tested methods and failing to
engage this community, the RFU spent
the time getting to know the community,
their values and their expectations.”
“It turned out that the initial hurdles were around
parental consent and support for participation,”
Ty explained.
“In order to overcome this, and with the help of
the local authority and community engagement
officer, we were able to meet the chairman of
trustees for the local mosque and explain our
desire to reduce the barriers to participation.
“The mosque kindly helped us host a community
presentation where we were able to share our
values and the benefits associated with playing
rugby. We were also able to offer the resources to
provide high-quality coaching through our own
community of rugby coaches.”
Many coaches will have come across parents
who have proved initially reluctant to allow their
children to participate in certain contact sports,
the difference for Ty being the numbers and the
gulf between him and the Somali community. The
solution? Find people who could bridge that gap.
“What was fundamental from the outset was the
engagement of a Somali borough community
leader. That led to using volunteers, recruited
by Sahel Ali (Chair of the mosque), who were
responsible for helping recruit participants to
attend the training sessions.
“As they were respected members within their
own communities they were able to help build
a trust for new players to come along and
give rugby a try.” Even with the help of these
volunteers, take-up was slow. So arose barrier
number two: how to keep those initial attendees
interested while the local volunteers worked hard
to smooth the path for others to come along.
“This was a significant challenge at the beginning
of the project,” conceded Ty. “Working with
as few as three or four players made it, from a
coaching perspective, very challenging to plan
content that really engaged the players.
“There was no magic wand to solve this, the
Rugby Football Union (RFU) coaches just
focused on keeping the quality of the sessions
high, and we soon saw an increase in attendance
and participation.”
With the numbers in place and the consent
secured, rugby could take centre stage.
Was it a challenge, for Ty and the session
coaches, tailoring the content of the training to
take into account the delicate nature of
the relationship with the parents and
wider community?
“Not at all,” Ty insisted, “the same approach was
used as would be used in any environment where
rugby is new.
“As coaches we understood the necessity of using
games as a means to learning. Playing fun and
engaging games like rugby netball, endball and
‘any direction touch’ was crucial to developing
each player’s understanding of the principles
of play.”
The rugby stars of the Somali community are now
absorbed in a sport they barely knew existed 18
months ago, progressing into ever-increasingly
competitive forms of the game, while the coaches
have taken huge strides, as Ty explained.
“We initially progressed 10 candidates through
the Level 2 prerequisites of Rugby Ready and
Scrum Factory. These are excellent continual
personal development (CPD) courses that help
new coaches understand how to coach safely and
ensure they provide a safe environment in which
players can train. They also teach the coach how
to develop correct body position and manage
contact safely.
“These CPDs were so successful that we have
the next coh ort of 10 ready to develop in the
new year. We have now seen three of our Somali
players develop into fully qualified Level 2
coaches, with one of them now coaching in a
local school to young Somali players.”
Charlotte Stanton, NGB Lead Officer for London
Sport, added that the work the RFU did to set up
the project was what made it a success. Sterry
may be too modest to state it, but the skill and
preparation employed by his group was of the
highest level.
“Rather than simply using the same
tried-and-tested methods and failing to engage
this community, the RFU spent the time getting
to know the community, their values and
their expectations, allowing them to create
an opportunity that the community wanted,”
Charlotte said, touching on the universal coaching
principles of communication and building
relationships – the same tools required in our
sport, by coaches looking to build support for
cricket among any unfamilar community.
Find out more
englandrugby.com
middlesexrugby.com/somali-rugby-development
Twitter: @MiddlesexRDO
This article was written by Ian Slattery and originally appeared in Coaching Edge. It has been edited for Hitting the Seam by Martyn Kiel.
Tackling New Ground
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