BC Grassroots Rubgy Summer Blog - Week 5
BC Grassroots Rugby has finished their fifth week of Summer 2021!
As many of our supporters and readers know, BC Grassroots Rugby hosts annual summer camps. However, for those of you who are new to the BC Grassroots Rugby family, BC GRF is a community development non-profit organization working to provide opportunities for youth of all backgrounds to participate in safe, organized sport during the summer. The summer camp program transpires from July 5th to August 29th, with a range of days for each camp. The camps are set up in different areas all over Vancouver island. Therefore, the children of each region are met in an area that is both accessible and familiar to them.
WEEK 5 EVENTS
With BC Grassroots’ 2021 Hornby Island rugby camp from Thursday to Monday, coaches were split between Vancouver island and Hornby island. Week 5 was an eventful week. There were some pop-up and plays, ball drives, fantastic camps, and most importantly lots of smiles and giggles!
SUPERVISORS HIGHLIGHTS OF WEEK 4
Nanaimo/ Ladysmith
Last Monday we had our first session at Elaine Hamilton Park with a younger crowd, ages 3 to 8; it was quite successful. We also went to nanoose First Nations which was cool as it was the first time up there. A new relationship was started with the Snawnawas first nation with sessions happening on thursdays from 9 am to 10:30 am. This Monday was our first session with BGC Fifth street and had 18 participants out and we also Joined VIU summer camps and lead sessions for 45 kids yesterday. For Give-Back-Friday our team helped clean a local strength and conditioning gym that a lot of our athletes are members at. The Stzuminus session was a blast last Tuesday morning. Our nanaimo team continues to positively impact children through the boys and girls club of beban and 5th street! The team was also split up over multiple different sessions, so we had less team memebers at each camp but we got more camps in total.
Port Alberni
We just ran camps as usual; the only difference is the progress seen in the kids skills. This progress is really to see first hand. Our retention rate is high which is promising. We did not have a Give-Back-Friday activity as we ran a camp instead. However, this week we will be painting. We have had an uptick in our number of participants; it is exciting to get some new individuals.
Cowichan
In week 5, we had an amazing camp at Kerry park. We had such a great day on Thursday: we had a productive camp with over 30 kids. It was filled with fun rugby skills and playing on the playground. We had a great time at Kerry park and the feedback we received was positive. Looking back onto the week, we spent a lot of time with Kerry Park and greatly enjoyed it. The kids were all so well behaved. We loved chatting with them at lunch breaks and hearing the story about their hot wheels and pokémon’s. I think we created a lot of new rugby players at that camp. For Give-Back-Friday we had multiple groups of staff go out to local parks and beaches to clean up the community. The kids attitudes while learning the game of rugby was extremely fun to watch and listening to the comments that the kids would make were hilarious!
Kelowna
There were good and bad days to our week 5. We hosted a fundraising event watch party for the British and Irish Lions test match. We also hosted our usual Tuesday pop-up, with a couple new faces, and 13 new faces at our Wednesday evening pop-up event. Thursday, we hosted our rugbylympics, where our pop-up players competed in a variety of rugby based competitions. However, there was the issue of the smoke which we had to account for in the planning on the week and future weeks.
Victoria
Last week Thursday at 8 pm we had an amazing guest for our Flora academy: Luke Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks. He talked a little about Super Bowl wins to what football players could take away from rugby and so on. On Monday from 10 am to 12 pm we ran a session at the Vic West Community Centre. There, we had a great group of energetic young kids who learned all about rugby, for the first time. Week 5 was a very successful week; we have gotten into the rythme of things and continue to improve every session! For Give-Back-Friday this week we had a beach cleanup and four of our team members went in the community and helped weld and erect a small structure. The Hornby trip was a huge standout last week. Getting to know the youth and teach them skills outside of rugby was a huge highlight this week!
Esquimalt/ Sooke
Our week 5 stand-out events were the Hornby Island Camp and our Bullen Park Pop Up! The Hornby camp featured beach rugby, group games/activities, and a lot more. Read Clay’s most recent blog post to hear more about it and to see some photos! By the end of the week that group had been able to effectively combine on-field rugby skills as well as functional movement. The other standout session at Bullen Park, on Wednesday’s from 12 pm to 2 pm, was a huge success with 55 kids! Everybody who made an effort to reach out to their networks to help our mission was extremely helpful. Individual contributions made it clear that both the Victoria and Rugby Community are eager to contribute to everyone’s return to play. For Give-Back-Friday, our region took care of the spaces that we use by cleaning up parks and beaches! If I had to pick one stand-out event from the week, even though its tough to choose as there were so many, I would have to pick the Hornby Camp. There were so many keen campers that had so much energy the entire time, that the staff could hardly keep up. Looking forward to running the camp again next year!
WHAT’S COMING UP?
Nanaimo/ Ladysmith - We have sessions upcoming on Mondays at Nanaimo rugby club from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm pop and plays then touch games on Wednesdays from 4 pm to 6 pm at their park. This week we’ve got a few pop up and plays around town, one at Dover bay secondary from 10 am to 1 pm.
Port Alberni - We are off to Bamfield for three days next week which is exciting!
Kelowna - For Give-Back-Friday this week, we are serving dinner at the Kelowna Gospel mission, and cleaning the local rugby storage canteen. We have U10/U13 touch rugby on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am to 11 am at Glenmore Rec Park.
Esquimalt/ Sooke - Specific events that happened last week with day/time/place info.
There are some big events that we’re looking forward to this week! The UVIC High School Boys’ session (registration is required) on Monday from 6 pm to 8:15 pm. The UVIC girls’ session (registration is required) will be Tuesday from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, see you there!
Cowichan - This week we have plenty of great pop up opportunities! One that I am excited about is our centennial pop up this saturday from 12pm to 2. There should be lots of kids and the park is a great place to play rugby with its field and waterpark so you can cool down after.
Victoria - This week we have our Tulista pop up and play in Sydney, on Friday from 1pm to 3 pm. This is a very successful pop-up that attracts a lot of kids! There will also be beach rugby on Saturday’s from 11 am to 2 pm at Cadboro Bay beach and Willows beach!
Only a few more weeks left of our BC Grassroots rugby summer camps and programs! There is still so much to happen this summer. Make sure to take full advantage of the opportunities that we are offering!
