Last month Munster Rugby held a successful induction day at Virgin Media Park for this season’s Club & Community Rugby Officers (CCROs).
The CCROs will be working with clubs and schools across the province over the next eight months, introducing rugby into the schools through PE classes and helping to link the schools with their local clubs.
The role of a CCRO is very important as they are one of the first links between the schools and the clubs.
The agenda for the day was jam packed with Ray Gadsden, Participation Programme Co-Ordinator, taking them through games and drills that they can use in their sessions, while Rugby Participation & Operations Manager, Damon Urlich and Women's Development Lead, Ken Imbusch, spoke to them about the IRFU platform, Gainline, where they will be tasked to keep a record of each of the sessions they complete throughout the school year.
Speaking about the programme's purpose Urlich said:
"We want to drive numbers for both boys and girls across the board. But we also want to forge links between local schools and the clubs in their area, developing pathways for kids so that they can come, play and hopefully stay in the game for a long time."
The CCROs will now spend the next 36 weeks going to schools around the country at both primary and secondary level to encourage the students to give rugby a try and potentially consider joining their local clubs in the future.