More than 3,000 children have been offered sporting sessions by Salford Red Devils Foundation this year in a bid to encourage activity engagement in schools.
At the end of the 2022 academic year, the Red Devils Foundation will have engaged with more than 3,000 school children from reception to year 11, across 40 different schools.
The school engagement is primarily based in the City of Salford but the foundation is also engaging with schools across all of Greater Manchester to help expand Rugby League participation.
James Molyneux is the lead educations projects officer at the Red Devil’s foundation and leads the majority of the school coaching programs by the foundation.
He said: “We deliver in loads of different schools across Greater Manchester, so obviously Salford, Bolton, Stockport, one of our main areas is in Trafford as well.
“We do primary schools and high schools, from nursery all the way to year 11 and key stage 3.”
Mr Molyneux added: “Obviously because we’re predominantly a rugby club we deliver lots of rugby-based activities, but we also deliver multi-sport activities.
“We also have some external karate coaches, dance coaches and gymnastics so we can offer schools loads of different things not just rugby or the traditional sports.”
Mr Molyneux explained: “With the schools’ provision we run yearly (Tag Rugby) festivals at primary and high schools. I couldn’t put a number on how many we do but just in the primary school ones there is about 30 teams that compete and that is just in Salford alone.
“We also host the Greater Manchester finals for tag rugby. The winner of each borough from the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester all play at the AJ Bell Stadium where there becomes one winner, where last year a Salford school won it for the very first time.
“It is a great experience for them and it’s something they always seem excited for when they get the opportunity to play at a stadium.”
Miss Kate Grundy is a teacher at St. Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School. She said: “The Salford Red Devil’s foundation has been fantastic. They have delivered excellent high-quality lessons, provided fun and engaging extracurricular rugby for the girls here at St Ambrose.”
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