Medway's Clubmark success reported at Medway Council
http://www.medway.gov.uk/london2012/55319/80432/80851.htm
The official press release:
Medway Rugby Club become the first rugby club in Medway to achieve clubmark accreditation
After two years of hard work, Medway RFC, have been awarded clubmark status and are the first rugby club in Medway to achieve this prestigious accreditation
The RFU Community Rugby Seal of Approval and the Sport England Clubmark accreditation scheme are based upon a three-year award system in which clubs are assessed on their ability to provide a safe, effective and child-friendly environment in which youngsters can learn their rugby. The award is indicative of the quality of provision the club offers and their commitment to the continued development of young rugby players.
Sports Development Officer Sarah Dand says “the club have been working tirelessly on enhancing and increasing their junior development programme over the past two years and continue to do so. They have been working very closely with Medway Council sports development team in organising school tag rugby leagues, competitions and tournaments. At the same time, they have set up a community coaching team to support the delivery of this voluntary work in the schools and have been supporting teachers to enhance their own development and coaching skills as well. I have seen the club grow in terms of their development and I am delighted that the club has proven to be a determined, well-managed club with the drive that enabled them to achieve clubmark accreditation”.
Trevor Jefferies, Clubmark Officer also adds “a substantial amount of work has gone into getting clubmark, but we won’t be resting on our laurels, we still have a lot of work to do each season to maintain and hopefully upgrade our status. This was very much a club wide effort but we also received massive support from Andy Pratt, RFU regional rugby development officer and Sarah Dand from Medway Sports Development and my thanks goes out to them.
The club’s achievement of this award comes at an exciting time for the club as Mark Marriott, the Director of Rugby explains “Medway Rugby Football Club (founded 1931) commence their 78th Season with confidence with the Senior Men's 1st XV having been promoted as champions over the past two seasons and now receiving the honour that is the Seal of Approval from the English Rugby Football Union confirming Medway as an approved Club for the delivery of high quality rugby football for all players under the age of 19 years.
The award of "Clubmark" is an important milestone for the ambitious Medway Club and much assistance has been received from the Rugby Football Union and Medway Council to ensure this centre of excellence continues to offer Rugby to all of the community of Medway and beyond.
The Club consists of four senior mens teams, a veteran mens side for players over 35 years, a Ladies section for whom England vice captain Rachel Burford played and still has contact with, youth teams from under 19 to under 13 and the mini teams for under 12 to under 7 where both boys and girls play this fantastic team sport. "Medway Touch" also provides all the skills of the game and fitness with competitive and social sides with no contact, so sport for all! For further information on the club or perhaps you want to play rugby then have a look at the clubs website www.mrfc.net
Andy Pratt, RFU Rugby Development Officer for the South East added “Medway RFC have shown they are committed to providing a safe, effective and fun environment for children to learn and enjoy rugby union. This award is due recognition of the hard work their volunteers do in order for this to happen.”
Attached is a photograph of Medway RFC being presented by the President of the RFU with their clubmark plaque at the Middlesex 7's which took places on Saturday 16th August at Twickenham.
News: 30 July 2008. Medway RFC has now been awarded Clubmark status and a formal presentation to the club will follow within a few weeks.
WHAT IS CLUBMARK?
- Sport England’s Clubmark is a cross-sport accreditation for sports clubs with junior sections in recognition of a quality club. It has been introduced to :
- Ensure sport’s national governing bodies (NGBs) have core common criteria to ensure good practice runs through all development and accreditation schemes.
- To empower parent(s)/carer(s) in choosing a club for their children.
- To recognise an accredited club through a common approach to branding.
- To provide a focus around which national governing bodies (NGBs), Sport England, sports coach UK, Child Protection in Sport Unit, County Sports Partnerships, English Federation of Disability Sport, Womens Sports Foundation, Sporting Equals, local authorities and others can come together to support good practice in sports clubs working with children and young people.
WHY CLUBMARK?
Nearly half of all children and young people are members of sports clubs outside school (Young People and Sport National Survey 1999) and it is important that these clubs serve young people well. The reasons for this include:
- Ensuring the well-being of young people whilst in the care of adults, other than their legal parent(s)/carer(s).
- Enthusing young people to enjoy sport and active recreation to build a healthy lifestyle.
- Enabling young people to use their leisure time creatively.
- Developing young people’s talents.
- Identifying and developing the most talented young people for representative sport.
Until recently there were few guidelines and little support available to most clubs to develop and assess themselves. Initiatives that were developed by Sport England, some NGBs of sport and local authorities were not coordinated and could lead to duplication of effort. Sports clubs that work with children and young people need and deserve support to improve the quality of work they do.
Clubmark sets core and common criteria for sports clubs to meet in the following categories:
- child protection
- coaching and competition
- sports equity and ethics
- club management.
CLUBMARK AND NATIONAL GOVERNING BODIES OF SPORT
The basis of club accreditation is that NGBs incorporate the Clubmark criteria into their own development and accreditation programmes through which clubs gain accreditation. There is no duplication of effort required by clubs and there is one process and one set of paperwork to complete.
WORKING TOWARDS ACCREDITATION
At Medway Rugby Football Club we are currently working towards accreditation and are committed to the achieving Clubmark status and ensuring that players continue to be coached in a professional and safe environment.
The process of obtaining clubmark does not happen overnight. A significant amount of time and effort has been invested over the last 15 months towards the clubmark process.We have set ourselves a target date of early 2008 to complete and obtain Clubmark Status.
Please contact Trevor Jefferies or Mark Marriott for further information.