IRB Rugby Ready A Global Hit
IRB Rugby Ready, the online best-practice coaching and rugby preparation resource, is providing an invaluable education tool for players, coaches, referees and administrators around the world.
Since its launch in October 2007, the IRB Rugby Ready website – www.irbrugbyready.com – has been accessed by over 208,000 unique users in 201 countries worldwide, with over 40,000 members of the rugby family undertaking the online best-practice test.
Complementing the site, the IRB and accredited Member Unions have run practical courses in 24 countries with over 5,000 individual completions, promoting consistency and best-practice player welfare techniques.
The IRB intends to increase exposure and roll out the programme across more countries in 2010 as a key element of its player welfare strategy.
IRB Training and Medical Manager Mark Harrington said: “Everybody involved in organising and playing rugby worldwide has a duty of care in relation to the welfare of players.
“The IRB Rugby Ready programme is a key education element of the IRB’s Medical strategy and combines a free-to-access interactive online resource with practical workshops and courses.
“Rugby Ready has grown to become an invaluable resource for the global rugby family and is designed to raise awareness of good practice and help stakeholders manage the inherent risks of a contact sport by putting appropriate safeguards in place.
“At the recent IRB Medical Conference, all stakeholders agreed that Rugby Ready should have a prominent role across all Member Unions.
“The multilingual IRB Rugby Ready programme is designed to support individual coaches, players, referees, administrators and Unions in preparing to play the game with the best possible practice models for physical conditioning, technique, injury prevention and injury management.
“Aside from widespread use in traditional rugby-playing nations, the IRB Rugby Ready resource has proven extremely popular at reaching out to growing rugby markets such as India, Mexico and Brazil. Spain, Chile, Colombia and Russia feature in the top ten user countries,” he added.
Available in six languages online and 14 as a written resource, IRB Rugby Ready features in-depth information sections on all aspects of preparing for and playing the game, while practical advice and embedded video of best-practice techniques enhance the resource.
Free registration also allows the user access to extended content, including the Rugby Ready quiz.
In addition to the online resource, the IRB Rugby Ready programme is also delivered by IRB Member Unions with the RFU delivering the programme to over 4,500 community level coaches at regional workshops in England, while in Japan completion of the Rugby Ready course is a necessary step for all aspiring coaches wishing to coach the contact version of the game.
Face-to-face Rugby Ready courses can be delivered by licensed IRB educators around the world.
Harrington said: “IRB Rugby Ready is the flagship programme for an ever expanding suite of free-to-access multilingual online resources delivered by the IRB.
“In addition to Rugby Ready, there are the IRB Coaching, IRB Laws and Keep Rugby Clean online education resources available for free to the global rugby family.”
A number of IRFU staff were involved in the design of the programme including Steve Aboud (National Coaching Director), the staff and players of the Leinster Rugby Academy, Dr. Conor McCarthy (IRFU Medical Officer) and David Keane and Alan Rogan (IRFU Referees).
Other IRB Online Resources –
www.irbcoaching.com: is a key resource for developing novice coaching skills.
www.irblaws.com: was launched in May 2009 providing users with an interactive platform to learn the Laws of the Game.
www.irbkeeprugbyclean.com: was launched in November 2009 to support Anti-doping education.
In 2010, the IRB will launch a Union administration website and a dedicated Medical and Player Welfare website.
Related Links –
IRFU Initiates IRB RUGBY READY Programme