Growing the game of rugby and creating a positive sporting and social impact within the local community has long been a priority for Northampton Saints – and thanks to the excellent work done by Community programmes, such as Project Rugby, the Club continues to see success stories from across the region.
A joint initiative between Premiership Rugby and England Rugby, Project Rugby aims to increase participation in the game by people from traditionally underrepresented groups, including Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people, people from Lower Socio-Economic backgrounds (LSEG) and disabled people.
Reaching over 1,000 young people across 20 schools, clubs and youth centres during the 2021/22 season, Saints’ Community team helped to spread the game across Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Suffolk – reaching out to communities who have very little to no experience in rugby.
And there aren’t many better examples of the impact that programmes like Project Rugby can have than that of Kwad – a student from Wrenn School in Wellingborough who joined Saints’ Project Rugby programme last year.
From his first session with Saints’ Community coaches, Kwad showed a huge interest in rugby, asking his PE teacher about joining his local team from day one. Each school or club engaged in Project Rugby enjoys six initial coaching sessions to introduce the values of the game and following Kwad’s starter sessions Northampton Saints – along with his teacher and parents – helped the youngster join Wellingborough RFC, where he has been playing now for almost a year.
Kwad’s passion for the sport led Northampton to offer the young student a place at their famous residential rugby camp at Stowe School – which was generously funded by the Northampton Saints Foundation. The five-day residential was a challenge that Kwad took in his stride, relishing the opportunity to learn more about the sport he had played for less than 12 months, while also bravely entering an environment where he knew none of the other players.
Developing immensely over the five days, Kwad went home from the residential with one of Saints’ Hyundai SPIRIT Award that recognises players who went above and beyond in everything they did over the period of the course both on and off the field.
Olly Middleton, Northampton’s Project Rugby Officer, said: “Kwad really was a pleasure to coach throughout the year.
“It was a delight to see everything he achieved, from that very first session to the big 75,000 event – that celebrated 75,000th participant of Project Rugby earlier this year – to taking to the field at half-time during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Final at Twickenham.
“Kwad took everything we have thrown at him in his stride and now I can’t wait to see how much he can develop over the next few years.”
