My name is Ciera Campbell and I am the rugby modern apprentice for the Balfron Cluster and I represent the Scottish Rugby Union, Strathendrick RFC and Balfron High School. I aim to improve the number of participants in school rugby as well as promoting rugby within the local primary schools.

To do this, I have been out to the local primary schools and delivered rugby sessions to the P3 classes. The schools that were involved were, Fintry, Kippen, Buchlivie, Killearn, Strathblane, Balfron, Drymen and Buchanan. The school sessions aimed to introduce rugby to those who had not tried it before and in doing so promote the local rugby club, Strathendrick, as their nearest convenient club for participating in our sport. The sessions, were mainly focused on introducing those who had not taken part in rugby before to the sport, firstly concentrating on carrying the ball in 2 hands and the best way that we maintain control of the ball. We looked at different ways to stop an attacker from running in rugby, this was done by introducing a touch tackle where they had to make a two handed touch on their opponents waist. If the tackle was any higher, it was not seen as an effective tackle as in rugby if you go too high it would not bring a strong runner down so encouraging the children to tackle low was very important. I found that the primary sessions were great as I noticed that all of the children were keen to get involved and were helping each other throughout the sessions. What started off as an individual effort in the first week was soon a team effort as they progressed.

We held a touch rugby festival at Strathendrick sports club on Thursday 24th March. There were 6 different stations for the children to go around these included an obstacle course, relay races, 5 pass games, corner ball, end ball and touch rugby. The groups were made up from all the schools that were there at that time. This was beneficial as it allowed the children to interact with others from the surrounding schools and get to know what it is like to be involved with those that they don’t know. This will also be good for those who took part as the majority of them will be in high school together later in life. The festival ran smoothly thanks to the fantastic support shown by the sports leaders from Balfron High School, who each took charge of one of the sections and then were divided and went around with the groups to the different stations. The sports leaders were key to the day running as efficiently as they refereed the games taking place as well as supporting the children through the games and game coaching to ensure the children were getting the most out of the day. The festival was planned weeks in advance with the help of the Active Schools Sports Coordinator, club coaches and the primary schools who were key in helping make the day possible, by allowing us to go into the schools and introduce them to rugby in a way which made it fun and enjoyable for everyone.