Enniskillen Rugby Club launch Tag Rugby section ‘Enniskillen Elks’ for young people with learning difficulties.

Enniskillen Rugby Club launch Tag Rugby section ‘Enniskillen Elks’ for young people with learning difficulties.

Enniskillen Rugby have become the latest Ulster club to join a province wide initiative to introduce Tag Rugby to those with learning difficulties and provide an opportunity for many young people in the west of the province to get involved with rugby. This Friday they will host their first session to launch the “Enniskillen Elks”, with the much appreciated help of Ulster and Ireland rugby stars Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding, and the visiting “Stevenson Sharks” team from Dungannon RFC, which should make for a fantastic event at the club.

The project started with the appointment of Ulster Rugby’s Disability & Inclusion Officer Tim Craig, a role funded by the Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure under their ‘Promoting Equality, Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion through Sport’ programme, and has had great success since with rugby clubs all over Ulster; Enniskillen now the 10th club to get on board. The main goal of the programme is to promote health and wellbeing for those with learning disabilities through a sport suitable for males and females of all ages and abilities, with tag rugby being an exciting, non-contact version of the game.

A great effort has been made by Enniskillen RFC to get involved, with Youth Convenor Stuart McCrae the driving force behind the initiative, and six of the club’s youth coaches and additional youth players attending training courses specifically aimed at working with young people with learning disabilities back in Autumn 2014. Following some early sessions at local Willowbridge School, and very positive feedback from staff and parents, it was then clear there would be demand for forming a Tag Rugby Club alongside the youth section of ERFC where young people with learning disabilities can enjoy the sport in a safe environment with fully trained and qualified coaches in attendance.

Sessions will be running Friday nights at Enniskillen Rugby Football Club, Mullaghmeen starting at 7pm this Friday 20th February, and going for approximately eight to ten weeks with a short break over the Easter holidays. For further information please contact Stuart McCrae on 07540121589 or email at stuartmccrae@yahoo.co.uk.