We've teamed up with Premiership Rugby and Brazilian partners Social Service for Industry (SESI) to bring an innovative rugby project to Sao Paulo State in Brazil.
Try Rugby takes British rugby coaches from the Premiership Rugby network to deliver sports for social development activities in schools and communities in Brazil. Premiership Rugby is the top professional rugby union competition in the UK.
The programme uses rugby as a tool to engage with children and young people in different States in Brazil, promoting health, education and social cohesion, as well as fostering the number of people that plays rugby in the country.
As well as getting more young Brazilians to play the sport, the programme is designed to help them develop valuable skills demonstrated through rugby, such as teamwork, leadership and self-discipline. It tackles some of the social issues affecting young people in schools or local communities, such as lack of inclusion or juvenile crime.
The programme started in 2012 in the State of Sao Paulo in a local partnership with SESI Sao Paulo. It then expanded to the States of Minas Gerais and Santa Catarina in 2014 and to the States of Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul in 2015. The project ended in early 2020.
IMPACT
Since September 2012, over 15,000 participants have been involved in rugby-based activity in Brazil every week in rugby clubs and other community inclusion projects. This includes 300 teachers and volunteers who have been trained to coach the sport.
Try Rugby has also been building links between the 12 English Premiership Rugby clubs in the UK and SESI centres in Brazil to co-create resources and share best practice in the use of rugby for social inclusion and the development of young people.
To help create a sustainable legacy we are transferring all the knowledge and networks the programme has developed in Brazil to our local partners, teachers and volunteers.
For more information about partnering with us, visit out Partnerships in Sport page