{"id":85711,"date":"2015-04-27T16:31:47","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T15:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/?p=85711"},"modified":"2015-04-28T10:35:30","modified_gmt":"2015-04-28T09:35:30","slug":"from-finals-to-favelas-newbury-rfc-u16s-help-to-develop-young-brazilian-lives-through-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/from-finals-to-favelas-newbury-rfc-u16s-help-to-develop-young-brazilian-lives-through-rugby\/","title":{"rendered":"From Finals to Favelas: Newbury RFC U16s Help to Develop Young Brazilian Lives through Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Finals to Favelas: Newbury RFC U16s Help to Develop Young Brazilian Lives through Rugby<\/strong><\/p>\n

Newbury, Tuesday 28th<\/sup> April 2015:<\/strong> In less than four months, members of the Newbury RFC U16 squad will be swapping GCSE finals for favelas as they head to Brazil\u2019s largest slum as part of an ambitious social mission called \u2018Rugby Firsts\u2019. At the end of August, 24 pupils from seven West Berkshire schools will travel to Rio De Janeiro to host a special Rugby Festival and coach youth rugby. With major sponsors secured, the team are now on a drive to fund raise and secure donations and pledges to enable them to take out kit and infrastructure to guarantee their once-in-a-lifetime trip has a lasting legacy.<\/p>\n

Rugby in Rocinha \u2013 Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rugby Firsts project is working with Rio Rugby, a local team of volunteers familiar with the challenges faced in the infamously dangerous favelas of Rio. The Newbury RFC U16 squad will be the first youth rugby team to head into Rocinha \u2013 Brazil\u2019s largest favelas, home to some of the poorest children in the city.<\/p>\n

The aim of the programme is to engage young people, using rugby as the vehicle to develop social skills, self-esteem, discipline, team spirit and positive pathways into the next stages of their lives. The highlight of the trip will be The Rio Favela Cup, where children will be transported from the favelas to a sports facility in the suburbs of Rio, to participate in a festival of rugby, music and BBQs – for many their first experience of grass pitches.\u00a0 As a result of this project, more than 100 children will learn and develop new skills \u2013 an important step in their personal development.<\/p>\n

The team want to be able to leave behind as many shorts, shirts, socks, bibs, rugby balls and training equipment as possible, to ensure that the skills these youngsters learn can be practiced by those living well below the poverty line. This kit is all-important, as demonstrated by some of the children of Rocinha when the New Zealand women\u2019s team visited the favela earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fundraising, Donating and Pledging<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rugby Firsts Project\u2019s next fundraising effort is the \u2018Black Hole Sportive<\/a>\u2019 \u2013 a challenging road bike ride on the lanes around Newbury, Hungerford and Andover. Taking place on Sunday 31st<\/sup> May, the Sportive concludes with a Brazilian BBQ.<\/p>\n

As a 50 or 20 mile bike ride on a Bank Holiday weekend isn\u2019t for everyone, people are also able to donate directly to the Rugby Firsts Project via an online local fundraising platform:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/bit.ly\/1OV9fIk<\/a><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just money the Rugby Firsts Project needs \u2013 second hand kit is very welcome! The team are running a \u2018kit amnesty\u2019 during May, collecting spare Rugby kit to take to the children in Rio. .<\/p>\n

\u201cRugby Firsts is a unique project. We\u2019re hoping to help nearly 100 deprived children gain social skills, self-esteem and discipline through rugby coached by their peers. If we\u2019re successful, we can keep these kids off the streets and away from illegal activities and nudge them towards a more positive future,\u201d said Shelly Hambrecht, Rugby Firsts Project. \u201cWith the generous support of rugby enthusiasts throughout West Berkshire, we can create a legacy that outlives our ten day experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schools Represented<\/strong><\/p>\n

The following schools from West Berkshire have students represented in the Rugby Firsts Project: Downs School, Kennet School, Leighton Park, Pangbourne College, Park House, St. Bartholomews and Trinity School.<\/p>\n

In addition, a student from St. John\u2019s in Marlborough is participating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Finals to Favelas: Newbury RFC U16s Help to Develop Young Brazilian Lives through Rugby Newbury, Tuesday 28th April 2015: In less than four months, members of the Newbury RFC U16 squad will be swapping GCSE finals for favelas as they head to Brazil\u2019s largest slum as part of an ambitious social mission called \u2018Rugby […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12748],"tags":[16477,4933,5983,16478,5816,13705],"class_list":["post-85711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-2","tag-favelas","tag-finals","tag-from","tag-newbury","tag-rfc","tag-u16s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85713,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85711\/revisions\/85713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}