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Future Blues scheme smashes records

Future Blues scheme smashes records

The 2010/11 Future Blues Rugby Scheme has, for the first time, broken the 11,000 mark in terms of players that have passed through the scheme in one school year.

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The scheme sees a qualified Blues Community Coach visit a local Primary School for four weeks to introduce both rugby and the Cardiff Blues to the youngsters.

The schools then attend a tag rugby festival and the kids receive information on where to join their local club.

This year has seen 180 Primary Schools receive the rugby programme amounting to 11,200 children.

Particular success stories have been seen in Powys where 26 of the 40 Primary Schools signed up and in the Cynon Valley where 24 of the 30 primary schools took part.

Further down the region, 36 of the 44 Primary Schools in the Vale of Glamorgan enjoyed their introduction to rugby.  For the first time, every child received a match ticket to a Cardiff Blues game as the region develops an affinity and identity with its younger fans. 

Richard Hodges, Blues Rugby Development Manager said: “These are impressive numbers and all credit goes to Nadine Griffiths and Liam Scott who oversee the scheme.

Furthermore, they employ 30-plus Community Coaches from colleges and universities. Key partners like the University of Glamorgan go out and about to deliver the scheme once trained to an acceptable level.

“It’s a cyclical process – we run holiday camps, the income generated from these pays for the coaches and their equipment to deliver the scheme and allows us to reach far and wide across the region each year.”

Next season will see the introduction of more tag leagues as schools look to play inter-school fixtures alongside the annual end of season tag festival on the Arms Park which this year saw 124 schools take part over four days.

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