BC Grassroots Rubgy Summer Blog - Week 6
BC Grassroots Rugby has finished their sixth 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 6 EVENTS
With only a few weeks left in the BC Grassroots rugby summer program, week 6 was met with hard work and dedication from our staff. This consisted of getting more kids out to the sessions, enhancing their awareness of rugby and the benefits of it, and organizing more fun summer events! We continue to acknowledge the wildfires and smoke that are affecting persons in Kelowna, and surrounding areas.
SUPERVISORS HIGHLIGHTS OF WEEK 6
Nanaimo/ Ladysmith
We started our program at the Nanaimo rugby club and had 5 new kids out last Wednesday from 4 pm to 6 pm. We had 18 kids on Monday from 10 am to 11:30 am, with the boys and girls club of fifth street Nanaimo. There were 45 new unique participants at VIU on Tuesday from 9:30 am to 11:45 am. We didn’t have a giveback Friday as everyone was away or took time off from the Hornby Island weekend. Brock Staller, Nanaimo Supervisor, personally volunteered at the firehall: cleaning trucks, doing yard work and moving/rolling hoses from 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday!
Port Alberni
In week 6, we had three days of great camps! We had a big uptick in new kids coming out. There were over 10 new kids throughout the three days. Instead of our usual Give-Back-Friday we had Give-Back-Thursday where we painted the inside of our local rugby club!
Cowichan
At Centennial park on Saturday the 14th we had an amazing turn out! A woman told us that her kids' friends had been to one, and loved it. It was amazing to hear that feedback about our pop ups; it’s exciting that people are talking about it in the community. At the end, she thanked us and said her kids had an amazing time and will definitely be back! during week 6, there were a lot of eager kids, and parents that were trying to get a little taste of Rugby before the summer ended. For Give-Back-Friday, we helped the community tackle some yard work. We worked hard cutting down trees, taking out bushes, mowing lawns and evening out the yard with soil. We worked together to make quick work of all the tasks and at the end the day the community was super appreciative of the work we did! Something that stood out in week 6, was that we had a very positive and informative Flora academy call with the very interesting Georgia Page!
Kelowna
Week 6 consisted of us being back to business as usual for the most part! We hosted our U10/U13 touch rugby on Tuesday and our U16/U19 touch rugby on Wednesday with 13 new faces! We also reffed and coordinated the Monday touch rugby. On Thursday, we hosted the Rugbylympics, which was tons of fun! For our Give-Back-Friday, we volunteered at the Kelowna Gospel Mission.
Victoria/ Esquimalt
On Wednesday 11th, from 1 pm to 3 pm, in Cloverdale we spent a few hours with the kids at the Cloverdale camp, introducing them to some themes of rugby. On Thursday 12th, from 10 am to 12 pm, at Colquitz park we had a great turn out and there were a lot of high spirits. On Friday 14th, from 1 pm to 3 pm at parliament, we had a great session. There was tons of foot traffic and many curious kids who were eager to learn more about rugby. This week we also had the Thunder Rugby BC Tour. Monday, August 16th, it started at Shawinigan lake then moved to the main land at Capilano on Tuesday and Abbotsford on Wednesday. Week 6 was another successful week here at grassroots: impacting over 70 kids this week! We are excited as we approach our goal of impacting 5,000 youth this summer. This week for Give-Back-Friday, the Victoria team helped Westshore rugby club and painted their totem pole, as well as tidied their equipment locker. This week we had a lot of fun getting out in the community and painting the totem poll. It was exciting because we had people from all different clubs helping one club which is what grassroots rugby is about! We also had lots of fun at the Bullen Park session, the kids were so excited to see us and we have built a good rapport with them.
WHAT’S COMING UP?
Nanaimo/Ladysmith - This week we are really pushing to get more numbers out on Wednesday from 4 pm to 6 pm, for the touch session at the Nanaimo rugby club! We also have a pop-up and play on Thursday from 1 pm to 3:30 pm at Beban Park. Hope to see you there!
Port Alberni - This week we are off to Bamfield. It will be great to get out to a nearby community and bring them some rugby!
Kelowna - Tuesday, Thursday and Wednesday we have our usual scheduled touch rugby events. We are volunteering at the Food bank on Thursday, and organizing our blood drive for week 7’s Give-Back-Friday. We may also have another service lined up at Kelowna gospel mission too
Cowichan - We have a few events happening this weekend, in particular, that we are excited about! We have Centennial park from 12 pm to 2 pm on Saturday, with several great coaches. There is also Evans parks on Sunday from 10 am to 1 pm for kids of all ages, to try out rugby!
Victoria/ Esquimalt - Coming up, we have a few key pop ups including: Thursday, August 19th, Dallas road from 4 pm to 5:30 pm and Tulista park in Sydney 1 pm to 3 pm on Friday, August 20th.
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!
