19 February 2021, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR: Kowloon Rugby Club partners with the Lao Rugby Federation to provide to rugby and life skills learning opportunities for two youth rugby teams in Vientiane Province
Kowloon Rugby Club was established in 1976 and it remains one of the six Premiership Rugby Clubs that competes throughout Hong Kong’s domestic leagues. The club acts as an inclusive sporting club providing rugby and netball opportunities for members from the Kowloon, Sai Kung and the New Territories districts. The Lao Rugby Federation (LRF) is the governing body for all rugby activities within the Lao PDR and focuses on developing sport through school and community development initiatives for youth as well as senior domestic and international representative teams.
Kowloon Rugby Club has been a crucial long-term partner for the LRF and the development of rugby programs in Laos. For the 2020/21 season, Kowloon Rugby Club partnered with LRF as a Champa Ban Connect partner to continue the strong momentum in providing rugby and life skills to children and youth athletes. “Champa Ban” means blossoming flower in the local Lao language, and the programme currently involves over 2,000 young players across the country who participate as part of their local rugby teams. Local youth Coaches aged 16 to 25 are trained by internationally accredited rugby trainers, life skills instructors and first-aid trainers to Coach teams in their respective communities.
A central component of the Champa Ban Youth Rugby Programme is the Pass It Back curriculum, which combines rugby skills with life skills through four modules; Understanding Gender, Planning for the Future, Staying Healthy and Feeling Safe. The LRF has delivered over 30,000 sessions to over 10,000 players and has trained over 100 community-based Coaches since 2015. Pass It Back in Laos has been recognised by two separate external evaluations as “amongst some of the best in the world for connecting sport and development outcomes with significant impacts in quantitative indicators that connect to resilience, leadership, community connection, gender inclusion and safeguarding” and that the programme’s “approach and achievements make it a best practice example of transformative gender programming.”
Vientiane Province, located just north of the nation’s capital, represents the new frontier for the rugby community in Laos, with one of the fastest growing player and Coach populations in the country. Since a pilot project in 2018, the Vientiane Province rugby community has expanded to include over 300 players in 24 teams as of the end of 2020.
The continual support from Kowloon Rugby Club to the Champa Ban Youth Rugby Programme has allowed the LRF to support the operations of two teams in Vientiane Province, each with 12 to 15 players and two Coaches. The youth Coaches deliver the Pass It Back curriculum in weekly sessions and train their teams to participate in competitions with other local teams. These sessions not only equip the players with rugby skills, but also provide critical opportunities for Coaches, who are often former players themselves, to exercise leadership. This process of former players developing into Coaches for future players represent a crucial step towards the sustainable development of rugby in the Lao PDR.
The LRF would like to thank Kowloon Rugby Club for their support for Champa Ban Youth Rugby in Vientiane Province that has allowed children and youth to pursue their passion, obtain life skills and hone leadership through the sport of rugby.
For more information about this press release, please contact LRF:
Phone: +856 21 315 795
Email: info@laorugby.com
Website: www.laorugby.com