"It’s not all about creating teams but instead, offering individuals the opportunity to get involved in something different."

Mighty Mighty Mayfield! 

Each month the Inclusive Club Network is celebrating a club within the network that is doing amazing work in their community.

This month we're celebrating Rochdale Mayfield! As they launch their new inclusive Tryz rugby league session, Carl tells us more about why these sessions are important and what impact they are having on their community. 

Article by Carl Abraham, Rochdale Mayfield ARLFC Development Officer

Rochdale Mayfield ARLFC has been a major contributor in providing a community-based sports activity for all age groups in the Borough for over 35 years. The club is in the final process of becoming an official Rugby Football League (RFL) Community Wellbeing Hub, as a family and community-based centre to bring residents and their children from a variety of deprived areas & backgrounds together. The club is always striving to be the best with ambitions to provide a platform for everyone to have access to some form of Rugby League.

In September 2023 we were given the amazing opportunity by Access Sport and the RFL to establish Tryz at the club to provide an engaging environment to introduce disabled young people to the sport of Rugby League. All sessions delivered are focused on fun and exploring, gaining interaction through trust and allowing individuals an opportunity to get involved in whatever capacity they want.

Realising what it brings to the participants, club and community, we approached local disability service providers and organisations to tell them about the monthly sessions. The numbers have improved with every session but we soon realised that relying on parent's and carer's support to bring participants to the sessions brings new challenges.

To overcome these challenges, we created Tryz on Tour! We'd visit service providers' centres/organisations and deliver sessions to a captative audience in their familiar surroundings. We hope this will give them the confidence to travel and want to get involved in our club sessions in the future. We are just starting to see the benefits of these sessions, with numbers at our club sessions at their highest and we're proud to see familiar faces from our visits now getting themselves fully involved.

The sessions not only provide participants with an amazing opportunity but also give our coaches valuable experience working with young people with a variety of disabilities.

Tryz is an exciting and rewarding venture and demonstrates the ambition of our club to always be moving forward. I, on behalf of the club, am grateful for the opportunity. For us, getting one participant to our sessions is a success!

We believe in all individuals being active and feeling part of something special and if they've got a rugby ball in their hands, then it's an added bonus.

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If you would like more information on the Rochdale Mayfield Tryz sessions, email: [email protected]