COMMUNITY RUGBY WRAP-UP!

18th Jul 2017

The HKRU Community Foundation coaches have had a busy end to their season, with a series of fun days and competitions to mark the finish of school and the start of summer holidays.


First up, on 2nd July at King’s Park 250 boys and girls from 10 local primary schools took part in the first “Hong Kong’s Rugby Spirit” Game Day; the programme was newly launched this year with the generous support of UBS, and a total of 52 schools have come on board, with students not only learning the basics of touch rugby but also the importance of the 7 key values that the Education Bureau have identified – “Perseverance”, “Respect for Others”, “Responsibility”, “National Identity”, “Commitment”, “Integrity” and “Care for Others” (Teamwork). After a morning of fun and frolics the youngsters were presented with special medals engraved with these values by the large group of UBS staff volunteers before everyone finished off with a picnic lunch.


Next up was the annual “Don’t Drop the Ball” competition day on 6th July, which saw 23 secondary schools and 20 primary schools from the Kwai Tsing, Tsuen Wan, Shatin and Tai Po Districts show off their silky rugby skills they have been developing all year. This initiative is organised in conjunction with the Police Crime Prevention Bureau and kindly supported by Standard Chartered Bank, and it was a great thrill for the students to have Mr Nigel Anton from SCB as well as Superintendent John Carroll (also the HKRU Director of Community Rugby when he’s not keeping the streets safe) present the trophies. All the boys and girls joined together with the police officers present to take a pledge to keep away from drugs and lead a healthy lifestyle, and each youngster received their own “life ball”, which they hopefully will do their very best not to “drop”! For the record, De La Salle Secondary School NT took the silverware in both boys’ and girls’ divisions for secondary schools, while in the primary section the boys’ cup went to Chi Hong Primary School and the girls’ cup to Shatin Methodist Primary School.


And so to Saturday 8th July, and the “Tackling English” Fun Day at King’s Park, which saw over 120 youngsters from 4 schools engaged in fun games whilst practicing and building confidence in English language communication. The “Tackling English” course was designed by the British Council, who also help with upskilling the Community Foundation coaches as well as providing some monitoring and evaluation of the delivery in 20 local schools. This initiative would not have been possible without the sponsorship of Deutsche Bank, and their staff volunteers were out in force to support the Fun Day.


Finally, the Community Foundation was very proud to join together with Kowloon Rugby Club, MVision, Accenture, Investec and HKIS to support an Inclusive Rugby morning on Saturday 15th July as part of the celebrations of Nelson Mandela International Day. More than 80 youngsters with special needs enjoyed some rugby fun, a performance of traditional African drumming, as well as some tasty traditional snacks, and they were joined by students from Renaissance College. Mandela Day commemorates the lifetime of service Nelson Mandela gave to South Africa and the world, and was launched on his birthday, 18 July, in 2009 via a unanimous decision by the UN general Assembly. Mandela Day activities are co-ordinated in Hong Kong each year by the South African Consulate.

Collectively all these events serve to reinforce the famous words of Nelson Mandela…sport has the power to change the world!

SUBSCRIBE TO

OUR NEWSLETTER