Urban Rugby Cup
This project's parent organization is Play Sports For Life
It operates in United States
It uses Indigenous games and Rugby Union
Entered the Sport For Social Inclusion Award
More about Urban Rugby Cup
Play Rugby USA was founded in 2003 to "develop youth through rugby”. The program has reversed social exclusion for its participating inner-city students by providing them a comprehensive platform for youth development that enhances their character, community involvement, conditioning and academic commitment. Social exclusion is evidenced in part in our communities by poor health (33% are overweight), low participation in team sports (25%) and high dropout rates (50%).
By introducing our first city-wide tournament in 2008, we were able to prove that such programming was a powerful catalyst to develop communities around rugby and reverse social exclusion. Through systemic integration of our youth development curriculum, students are given the skills they need to develop as individuals. By establishing a team, they form a micro-community and support network that is then given the opportunity to interact with other teams at our regular city-wide events – often one of the few opportunities for the students to leave their neighborhood.
The goal of the first annual Urban Rugby Cup in 2011 will enable students from qualifying member programs the opportunity to be selected to represent their city in an annual tournament that would rotate to a different city each year.