Try Rugby - Leicester Tigers Introduces Children to Our Favourite Sport

Leicester Tigers will be running Try Rugby, a new initiative to introduce young children in the area to rugby, in conjunction with partners Wooden Spoon and Sport England through the National Sports Foundation.

As well as getting more young people to play the game, we hope to help tackle the growing issue of childhood obesity. Nearly a third (31.1%) of 11-year-olds1 are now overweight or obese and the statistic is rising. Exercise is a great way of dealing with this and rugby is the perfect sport to do it - all shapes and sizes have their place in rugby - just look at Julian White and Harry Ellis.

Children in the North Nottinghamshire & Leicester city area are just some of the 23,000 children throughout England who will benefit from the initiative.

Leicester Tigers captain Martin Corry is a huge supporter of Try Rugby and he said: "In any rugby team you will see a vast difference in the heights, weights and overall sizes of players. Just look at the Leicester Tigers squad. Toby Flood and Sam Vesty are both about 1.86m and 92kg, Lewis Moody is 1.90m and is 102kg and Julian White is 1.84m and weighs 120kg. They are all fit and very health conscious but there is a 6cm difference in their heights and a 28kg difference in their weights!

"Consequently rugby is the ideal vehicle to engage and motivate youngsters - they don't need to feel self-conscious about their size as rugby needs every shape and size in a team.

"What's more, playing rugby can engender a great many positive values such as respect, team work and having fun while exercising.'

Wooden Spoon, along with Sport England through the National Sports Foundation, have each contributed £130,000 to Try Rugby. The scheme will see all 12 Guinness Premiership clubs and Leeds Carnegie offering 23,000 pupils aged 8-10 across England the chance to try out rugby, many of whom will be experiencing the game for the first time.

Matt Williams, Leicester Tigers Rugby Development Officer, said: "Try Rugby gives local schools a course in tag rugby that will benefit children and teachers, and will enable rugby to still be played long after we have completed the coaching series. Tag rugby is a pretty straightforward sport and it is lots of fun.

"Research has shown that rugby players are seen as very positive role models which we hope will also inspire the participating children."

Try Rugby kicks off on in October, thanks to Sport England, Premier Rugby and Wooden Spoon.

Who is Wooden Spoon?

Wooden Spoon is rugby's charity supporting mentally, physically and socially disadvantaged children and young people. Wooden Spoon has committed to over £12 million in spending for projects for children and young people. The Wooden Spoon Try Rugby Programme is one of these projects.

Delivery and Structure

The programme would span 5 sessions, normally one per week, with 3 sessions being tag rugby and 2 sessions being class based. The classroom lessons would look at Numeracy / Literacy skills with the scheme of work being focused on the game of rugby and how sport can enthuse learning.