Ulster Carpets Club Youth Awards: Malone RFC

Malone have picked up an Ulster Carpets Club Youth award, in recognition for having the highest ratio of qualified coaches to players. On collecting the award Malone Chair, Patrick Baird said: “This is great news for the club and we’re delighted to have been recognised by Ulster Carpets. Recruitment of coaches starts from our minis setup; we encourage the parents to get involved in coaching, particularly those who have been involved in rugby for many years and know the game. Those who haven’t got as much of a rugby background but who want to get into coaching are paired up with ex-rugby players as mentors. “In the past, after minis, we have tended to lose some coaches so we now have a lot of our first XV players giving back to the club by getting involved in coaching. We have grown from just one or two up to seven of our first XV coaching the youth setup. They’ve enjoyed it so much that they’ve encouraged other players to get into coaching and it has grown from there. “Our Club Community Rugby Officer, Callum Smith has been fantastic with the recruitment of players and coaches and we get the support we need from Ulster Rugby as well. “A lot of our youth players now come to watch our first XV games. It means that when they move into senior rugby it won’t be as daunting a step up because they know who the seniors are and have already developed a relationship with many of them. “It’s massively important to have a good youth system and a feeder for our senior squad. Those who want to play senior rugby have a pathway, whether it’s social or competitive. Our aim is to continue to grow our youth section and we would like to introduce an U20s team in the near future.” As their prize, Malone RFC will receive a bag of Ulster Carpets rugby balls as well as 30 tickets to an Ulster Rugby game at Kingspan Stadium.