It’s been a bumper summer with all WRU Fit, Fed and Fun camps attended at capacity this year. The camps, supported by We Soda, have grown year-on-year for the past three years; and this year the WRU Community Department more than doubled delivery of the Fit Fed and Fun camps reaching 14,054 young people across Wales, working alongside rugby clubs, schools and regional rugby foundations to deliver camps across the country.
The WRU Fit, Fed and Fun camps are free to attend with the aim of engaging children through the medium of rugby whilst ensuring that children are well fed throughout the summer holidays. Each camp is open to all children, but 49 rugby clubs and over 120 schools were targeted because they sit in areas of high deprivation (based on WMID).
Walker says, “14,000 children have had the opportunity to experience rugby this year alone. The rugby activity is the ‘fun’ bit, and the ‘fit’ bit, bit they receive meals, breakfast and lunch.”
“Our partner WE Soda provides us with the financial support to put these camps on and we work with them very closely to provide opportunities to as many children as possible across Wales.”
“Its important that we engage in this type of activity because we are part of the fabric of our society, rugby clubs are the heart of our society and a lot of the camps have taken place in rugby clubs and schools also.”
Feeding the children two square meals, a good breakfast and a healthy balanced lunch is a key focus of the camps, with rugby coaching and fun activities for all ages and abilities hosted by experienced WRU and regional foundation staff. A number of the camps are cross sport with football and cricket activities and as part of the program, the children will also learn about the benefits of looking after their community and the environment.
First Minister, Mark Drakeford says, “It’s fantastic to see so many young children having a good time. When you hear them and talk to them, they’ve had a great morning and looking forward to the rest of the day.
“The school holidays can be a long period and challenging for families. The camp today offers something for children to do, they get well fed and it offers real enjoyment for young people as well.”
“The camps are going brilliantly, and this year we’ve managed to get over 14,000 children engaged through support from the WLGA and through our delivery partners from the regional foundations and the Urdd in North Wales.
WRU Head of Regions and Rugby Inclusion, Liam Scott, adds, “The planning of the camps is a pretty long process. We have service level agreements with the regional foundations, and they’ve become delivery partners in order for us to upscale from 3,000 children engaged to 14,000 children. We needed to bring on board as many partners as possible in order to support the programme.
“Across Wales we targeted areas based on the WMID (Welsh Mass Index of Deprivation) looking at areas most in need of opportunities for physical activity and nutritious meals during the school holidays.
“The work with our regional delivery partners and local partners to help identify the areas and then we planned the sessions around the Welsh Government Agency school food & fun programme as well to ensure there’s no gaps throughout the school holiday for children in Wales.
“In addition to fun rugby activities the camps help to build social skills and self-esteem, we get them in groups, working together and teamwork. Some of the children who come along might be their first experience of rugby, they may not have rugby boots, so we take away the barrier and have given over 1,000 pairs of Gilbert boots to those children to need them. It also means, if they enjoy the session, they can visit their local club and continue playing afterwards.
“The council University of Gloucester are undertaking an assessment evaluation for us, so they’ve been talking to the parents. The feedback so far has been hugely positive and they’re thankful there is a free provision on offer. The six-week summer holiday is challenging for a lot of parents so it’s important we can come out and bring the camps to areas that need it most and remove as many barriers as possible.”
