PLAY THEIR WAY AND RFL TEAM UP TO SUPPORT COACHES ON CHILD-FIRST JOURNEY

Play Their Way and the RFL (Rugby Football League) teamed up in Leeds on Saturday to kick off a series of new events aimed at giving coaches the child-first coaching tools and tips to help give children life-long love for playing sport and being active.

The event, held at Leeds West Academy, saw children’s rugby league coaches from a number of clubs, including the Leeds Rhinos Foundation, join experts from Play Their Way for a day of practical and learning activities.

The Leeds Rhinos Foundation is celebrating its 20^th anniversary this August, and its impact continues to be felt. The importance of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation was revealed in its first-ever Social Impact Report this year, revealing that for every £1 invested into the charity, £10.49 of social value is generated.

The Play Their Way and RFL Coach Engagement Day took place ahead of the Club’s superb 36-12 win over Warrington Wolves in the Betfred Super League at Headingley. Children’s coaches from Farnley Falcons and Stanningley, alongside other RLF clubs from Yorkshire and the North-West, attended the event, with many of them taking up a special £5 ticket offer for Saturday’s match.

The day included a hands-on ‘child-first coaching in practice’ session led by child-first coach and former Bath rugby union player Russell Earnshaw from The Magic Academy alongside UK Coaching’s former England Under 19’s Rugby Union Head Coach, Dave Read with under 7’s and under 9’s players from Farnley Falcons and Stanningley.

The coaches also took part in a special session led by UNICEF UK on how to embed children’s rights into coaching children and young people in sport. The Play Their Way movement is underpinned by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which includes the right to play.

Saturday’s event followed the launch of the ‘Play Their Way Community Builder’ pilot project last summer with the RFL to champion child-first coaching in local communities. Both initiatives are aimed at creating a network of child-first rugby league coaches to ensure children’s voices are heard and their choices respected as part of all sport and physical activity they take part in.

Dave Raybold, National Development Manager, RFL, said: “The RFL were delighted to be able partner with the Play Their Way Team to provide such an exciting day of coach development. We recognise the vital role played by community coaches up and down the country, in providing fun and enjoyable sessions for our participants. However, we also appreciate that coaching can be a challenge so as an organisation we are increasing our efforts to develop our coaching workforce and Saturday was a key event in that process.

“It was outstanding to be able to learn from and interact with leading coach developers such as Russell Earnshaw and Dave Read and hear from Liz Twyford from UNICEF UK. We thank them for giving up their time to support Rugby League coaches. We also thank the Leeds Rhinos Foundation for their support with the day – the chance to experience the special Super League atmosphere of AMT Headingley was the perfect way to round off the day.”

Rebecca McAulay, Head of Campaigns, UK Coaching, commented: “It was great to kick-off the first of our Play Their Way Coach Engagement Day events with the RFL in Leeds and see such a large and engaged group of coaches taking part.

"Our research with coaches has highlighted that whilst the majority of them align with the idea of child-first coaching, nearly a third of coaches say they don’t yet apply the behaviours regularly. These events are about empowering coaches by giving them the practical skills and tools to go back to their clubs and embed child-first coaching in their sessions with children and young people.” 

The Play Their Way campaign will be running a number of similar Coach Engagement Day events with National Governing Bodies (NGB’s) across the rest of the year.

The Play Their Way movement was launched in 2023 to transform the way children and young people are coached by prioritising their rights, needs and enjoyment in a ‘child-first’ approach. The campaign is funded by Sport England and The National Lottery and is led by the 16 partner organisations that make up the CCC (Children’s Coaching Collaborative).

To learn more about Play Their Way, access resources and sign up to join the biggest grassroots movement to transform the way we coach our children and young people visit  www.playtheirway.org.