Girls Age Banding and Growing the Girls’ Game Resource

The new girls’ age bands for next season are nearly here and we are pleased to share some updates and support. These are aimed at helping everyone to kick off the new season on 1 August.

This has been produced to support the development of girls rugby under the new age bands.  It will help clubs, schools and colleges to build fun, supportive, attractive and inclusive experiences for new and existing players, as well as all those that support them.  There is something for everyone involved in girls rugby, under these headings:

•  Starting a new girls team or section at a club
• Age-bands from 2022-23 season
• Recruitment and retention of players
• Playing opportunities and competitions
• Local partnerships
• Volunteers, coaches & match officials
• Age band guidance for coaches

Please take a look and pass the information on across the girls rugby network.  You can find Growing the Girls Game here.

We are delighted to announce two live webinars hosted by ex-Red Rose, Tamara Taylor, who now acts as an RFU Coach Developer.

The two webinars will take place on Wednesday 13 July and Wednesday 10 August, both from 7.00 to 8.00pm. Keep an eye out on @RFU Twitter pages for the links. We will also include them in our next Community Game Update on 12 July.

Programmes and will be joined by special guests to help girls rugby coaches get ready for the new season.  The webinars will include Q&As and will help bring to life the ‘Age band guidance for coaches’ section in the ‘Growing the girls’ game’ document.

Focussing on key principles and tips for coaching girls across the different age bands, and with the second webinar building on the first, these sessions will help coaches plan the new season.

We will make the recordings available on-demand afterwards.

Helping the girls game build capacity to manage the new age bands over the next few seasons is something we are focussing on.  We are finalising plans to provide Training Bursaries for coaches and referees beginning their England Rugby Coaching Award and England Rugby Refereeing Award.  In addition, we want to support clubs starting up Under 12 Girls rugby with growing their player base and providing a great rugby experience.

We will work alongside Constituent Bodies and their superbly proactive Women & Girls representatives to target this support for 2022-23 in the coming weeks.  Please watch this space with more news to follow in July.