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August 2, 2024
The Rugby Football League (RFL) has announced that it is now part of the Play Their Way movement, which supports child-first coaches, organizations and people who ensure youth voices are heard in sport. As a ‘Play Their Way Community Builder,’ the RFL is launching a pilot project alongside Leeds Rhinos Foundation to deliver local coach engagement that puts kids first in sport and physical activity.
According to a Sport England survey, only 47% of children who exercise regularly strongly agree that they enjoy taking part in sport and physical activity. Reasons given for children and young people falling out of love with sport and physical activity include sessions that more heavily emphasize skills and competitive success than fun. Coaching that makes enjoyment a priority can help foster long-term participation in addition to performance states the movement.
Play Their Way research shows that while many coaches align with child-first coaching, nearly a third say they don’t apply the elements of it in their coaching sessions. Launched in 2023, the movement supports coaches to give children and young people a choice in their experiences of activity, creates a space for their wishes to be heard and enables them to take ownership of their development journey. It is funded by Sport England and The National Lottery and is led by the 17 partner organizations that make up the Children’s Coaching Collaborative.
Active partnerships and coaching organizations were invited to apply for a limited number of £5000 contracts to grow a localized network of child-first coaches. The pilot project focuses on meeting the needs of the community to better support young people to feel empowered to collaborate with their coaches and play an active role in leading their sporting journey.
The RFL is championing a child-first coaching approach alongside Leeds Rhinos Foundation within the local community and is working towards ensuring that everyone has fair and equal access to sport and physical activity. The league is currently changing its playing offer across the community game from under six to under nine from 2024-2027, implementing Touch/Tag up to under nines. The RFL is using this opportunity to run a localized program with the Leeds Rhinos to support and educate coaches in under six- and seven-year groups in the lead-up to the 2025 season to foster a child-centered approach.
“The community benefit that we see thanks to great coaching is profound and it is so important that coaches are correctly supported to be their best and embed a child-first approach in everything they do,” said Heather Douglas, Head of Coaching and Policy at UK Coaching. “Play Their Way is working at a local level to make a national change in how young people are treated in sport and physical activity – it is our mission that every child has their right to be heard, play, develop and be respected.”
UK Coaching, which supports the nation’s three million coaches on best practice, learning and research, will send a coaching team to provide specialist support to guide the project as part of the pilot project.
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