Team sports can do so much more than just keeping us physically active. It can teach us important life skills such as teamwork and respect for others and create a sense of community and belonging.
Since June 2017, The Strathmore Community Rugby Trust (SCRT) has seen the potential rugby has for its adaptability, inclusivity, and opportunity to foster a healthy and unified community in the Angus and surrounding local authority areas.
The charitable organisation currently runs ten different projects, impacting between 200 and 300 participants, and tackling various societal groups such as teens at risk of becoming anti-social, children with autism, and older people who are at risk of becoming isolated.
All their projects, barring one, are free of charge for participants in order to make sure that there are no financial barriers to taking part. Therefore, they rely heavily on the community through local sponsors and donations to stay up and running…
There’s more to rugby than just chasing a ball around a field. In fact, its core values of respect, integrity and emphasis on inclusion are the foundation in making the sport so adaptable and accessible, says Maggie Lawrie, the Community Trust Manager at SCRT.
‘There’s an opportunity for everyone on a rugby pitch no matter what shape or size you are, or what your background is, you’ll get a warm welcome,’ Maggie says.
According to Maggie, the rugby world has been slower in realising the possibilities for wider social impact it could have, and that’s just what the Trust are igniting through their work.
There are elements to the sport which can be added or left out, chopped and changed, and still, something similar can exist in the place of the traditional game.
‘You still have the same rugby values throughout everything, and it forms a real community,’ Maggie says. ‘I think that’s the one thing we say with all our projects is that people feel part of something.’
Amongst SCRT’s great plethora of projects is walking rugby. Usually, it’s older members of communities or people recovering from illness and injury who take part in walking sports and while well intentioned, other walking sports such as football can test the balance and coordination of participants due to having to dribble the ball.
In comparison walking rugby allows for two feet to remain firmly on the ground, Maggie says that when ‘you take that contact element out of rugby and it’s almost like tig.’…
FULL STORY at source: https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/news/the-strathmore-community-rugby-trust-rugby-has-the-power-to-change-lives-for-the-better
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