Expanding horizons: Community Rugby for young black men in White City (360G-ThriveLDN-325)

14. What is your project? (400 words) Rugby Union is still largely played by white, middle class men, and it is generally people of this profile who get involved in the sport at a young age. However we also know that playing rugby can have huge benefits to young people from any background. We have begun to explore and deliver work in more disadvantaged communities and unsurprisingly are finding that there are many young males from more disadvantaged and ethnic minority backgrounds who have great potential to develop and succeed in the sport. And we are also seeing the benefits that playing the sport has upon their lives. We want therefore to organise a programme specifically for this target group - in particular those aged 16-18 and on the cusp of adulthood and independent life. We want to run a community rugby programme in the highly deprived White City area of Hammersmith which reaches out to young black men, and offers them the opportunity to start playing the game. This community rugby programme will take place in the Linford Christie Stadium, and work with 30 young black men from the local area participating in weekly rugby sessions over 30 weeks. These will be supplemented by monthly workshops on topics surrounding mental health, wellbeing, life planning and aspirations. These workshops will build upon the personal development aspect of playing rugby, helping participants to think of the various opportunities that exist for them both within rugby and sport, but also in the wider world. The weekly sessions will be run by two of our Foundation's experienced, capable sessional coaches, while workshops will be run by experts on the particular topics, with our coaches also in attendance to provide additional support. Many of our coaches are current or former players from the Ealing Trailfinders Club, and provide very good role models to young men in particular. As well as offering the benefits of their experience playing the game and living well, they also offer a very positive form of masculinity to young men who may be from very challenging backgrounds and vulnerable to influence from more toxic forms of masculinity. Coaches will be supported by two volunteers who we will recruit specifically for the project. We will encourage young people to take up leadership roles within the sessions too, and to progress towards volunteering in our other programmes (so further supporting their ongoing personal development).