The evening was attended by a number of coaches and parents from within the club, coaches from another club and a teacher from a local school. The attendees worked their way through various scenarios and tasks set by the RFU and discussed challenges and experiences relating to youth rugby in the local area.

One of the aims of the evening was to ensure that our youth coaches are on board with the ‘Kids First’ policy that underpins everything we do in the U7-13s. Pleased to say that overall it seems that we have successfully adopted the 'Kids First' ethos in many areas. This season will see us embed it even further.

As a 'Kids First' club we have pledged to-
• Put children at the heart of everything we do and all the decisions we make.
• Encourage fun on the pitch, through equal opportunity and realistic expectations of our children.
• Develop children’s confidence and character as players and as people, challenging any behaviour that conflicts with this.
• Build the skills of our adults to provide a safe, healthy, respectful and enjoyable environment for kids.
• Champion rugby’s core values, inspiring a lifelong bond between children, adults and our sport.

In short this means that everything we do is aimed at putting our young players first. We work with the players, coaches, parents and environment to do this. Such things that we do are:
-challenging unacceptable behaviour
-giving all players equal game time irrespective of ability
-accepting that players develop at different rates
-upskilling coaches
-ensuring that coaches buy in to the Kids First ethos
-Parent information sheets
-regular coaches meetings

There is no defined list and we are constantly building on what we do so that we can further improve the rugby we offer on a Sunday morning. For more information visit https://www.englandrugby.com/my-rugby/players/kids-first-rugby or email Mary on kidsfirst@sloughrfc.com