Royal Navy Rugby Union O2 Touch Operator Manual
Total Page:16
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Royal Navy Rugby Union O2 Touch Operator Manual Page 1 Contents Welcome to O2 Touch 1. Our vision for the future of touch 2. Our touch offer 3. RNRU support to get you started 4. What we need you to do a. Your touch checklist b. Summary of commitments required from you c. Touch Base d. Touch Base + e. Touch Leagues f. Player service excellence g. Staffing h. Coaching and refereeing requirements 5. Playing touch – the rules 6. Running touch sessions –plans and warm up games 7. Coaching your players 8. Refereeing games 9. Getting players to your centre a. RFU national marketing support b. Local marketing c. Recruitment approaches and support d. RFU.com 10. The very important bits you need to do a. Touch Club Development Plan b. Reporting process and templates c. O2 Touch grant payment process d. First aid plan e. Risk assessment 11. Useful contacts Page 2 Welcome to O2 Touch You are one of the trailblazers helping the RNRU to develop and improve one of the country’s fastest developing sports and to grow the game of rugby. The incomparable thrill of running with a rugby ball in hand and scoring a try is an experience that many more will enjoy on a regular basis through our new O2 Touch programme! Regardless of age, gender, ability or experience, touch can be played by everyone and we are looking forward to working with you to bring touch rugby to new players across the Naval Service. We believe that touch can grow rugby participation and grow the game in our clubs and the communities around them. Clubs are the lifeblood of rugby in Royal Navy and together, through touch, we can recruit new players, retain existing ones and welcome a new audience to clubs. The simplicity of touch is its strength. All you need is some people, some space, a ball and you’re away having fun with friends, whilst improving strength, coordination and speed and keeping fit without setting foot in a gym. Busy lifestyles mean making choices for our precious spare time. Training every week and playing every weekend may be impractical. Playing touch means people can enjoy the sport without compromising jobs, studies, family or relationships. With your help we can give people the game they are looking for. Together with our partners at O2, we really can create a step change in rugby participation. Touch in your club and clubs like yours, can, with your help and enthusiasm be a real success story. In the following pages we’ll give you all the information you need to help us write this story. Thank you for setting out on this exciting journey with us. We look forward to celebrating your success with you along the way. 1. Our Vision for the Future of Touch "Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends." Walt Disney, the Walt Disney Company Our Vision Our vision is for the O2 Touch programme to become one of the best social clubs available, somewhere to exercise and play hard with like-minded people in a fun and social setting. Whether people are there every week or occasionally, O2 Touch will provide a consistently great experience in a great environment every week. With access available at the click of a button, people of every level will be able to play, progress, make friends and give a lift to their day. 2. Our Touch Offer To achieve our vision we are working with clubs (Establishments/Units/Ships) like yours to deliver a consistent touch offer in Touch Centres. Working together we want to provide activity targeted to your players, which is easily accessible, consistently delivered, at the same time and location week in week out during the year. Touch lends itself to two formats: Touch Base and Touch League. Page 3 Touch Base Touch Base is aimed at players unable to commit to regular activity. They can attend on their own, without the need to turn up as part of a team, and with your help they will get the most out of every session while meeting new people. Touch Base can become an alternative to the gym, 5-a-side football, pay and play tennis or military fitness type activity. To achieve this we have created a hour to an hour and a half’s programme, incorporating hard fitness, skills and play, followed by the opportunity to socialise with team mates. Touch League Touch League will also benefit your Touch Centre. This league structure organised on a local basis allows players to join a league, play competitive touch and have fun, at the level they want. If you don’t have sufficient players to start a league straight away we will work with you to get it up and running once the time is right. We will also work with you every step of the way to develop your Touch Centres so that with a shared vision we help casual teams to develop alongside organised competitive O2 Touch Leagues as your player numbers and their demands increase. Doing this well together we will ensure that players come back to your Touch Centre time and time again and bring their friends. 3. RNRU Help to Get You Started To get your Touch Centre up and running, we are here to offer resources and support. O2 Touch Starter Pack o O2 Touch balls. o Set of bibs. o Cones to mark out trylines. • You may purchase additional kit for any others helping run your activity – just contact the RNRU Touch Team for more information. RNRU O2 Touch Start Up The RNRU will support the development of your Touch Centre by providing equipment to assist with setting up the centre. Marketing Support and Promotional Collateral In addition, RNRU will also provide you with marketing and promotional support. 4. Making Your Touch Centre a Success a) Your Touch Checklist To ensure a great delivery make sure everything listed below is in place and checked through before you start running sessions. Page 4 Date Action Status Operator starter kit delivered and in place Venue secured, booked and confirmed RNRU informed of start date of activity Touch plan agreed with RDO as part of whole club plan RNRU local marketing support confirmed and underway Local marketing support plans in place Operator manual delivered, read through and checked Venue checked and tested for set up Training complete and volunteers briefed Session plans in place and a clear idea of the session you are going to run Volunteers confirmed for your session Player registration forms printed out and in place List of registered players from previous sessions printed out and in place Pens and pencils available to sign up new recruits on night All playing equipment at venue checked and ready to go End of session reporting updated and complete b) Establishment and Ship Commitments To ensure a smooth and consistent delivery of the programme in every location so that players to experience the same quality whether they turn up to play, we ask that all clubs and operators sign up to the following commitments. Operators will:- • Coordinate all activity. The structure of a session will vary on the location and number of participants but should include coaching activity and some form of refereed games – the operator must be able to react to this. • Provide staff to run, coach and referee matches. • Ensure public liability insurance is in place. If activity is club run standard RFU insurance will apply. o And ensure that any claims or issues are made known to the RNRU within 48 hours of them taking place. • Provide and develop a robust first aid plan. • Notify RNRU of activity start/end dates. • Provide post activity reporting documents to the RNRU (via RDO/CRC) through an RNRU established format, covering: o Operational issues and learnings o Positive or negative growth trends information o Risk and Issues log e.g. player injury, insurance claims etc. • Provide access to a facility or facilities that are o Available for 3 blocks of activity per year within pre-defined windows. o Risk assessed and that can demonstrate public liability cover. • Commit to developing a local marketing and communications plan to actively drive local recruitment and increase participation on an on-going basis from agreed pre designed templates. Page 5 • Undertake that the reputation of the RNRU will not be damaged in any way due to their actions whilst running the programme. • Always act within the core values of the RNRU and the ethos of the Royal Navy. c) The Touch Base Experience At venue At Touch Base centres player should expect to find: • Clear signposting of where to meet and where to find suitable changing facilities etc. • Helpful, friendly staff clearly branded with the O2 Touch Programme for ease of identification. • A well organised and structured programme designed for every level of player with: o Effective warm up and down routines at the start and end of each session. o Coaches available to provide tips for absolute beginners or more established players. o Games available for every level. o Referees to officiate every game played. • Staff knowledgeable about other things happening around the programme like festivals or club social events, local information about pubs etc. if too far away from the club location. • Social activity with other players should be encouraged by the operators at their discretion. The Necessary Basics Pitches are generally 50m x 70m but feel free to modify the pitch size to suit your numbers • 3-a-side is the bare minimum number of players required for a good game of touch.