Big money up for grabs, and a local club hopes to get its share |
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SPRINGFIELD For 20 youth sports organizations demonstrating their commitment to responsibility on and off the field, Liberty Mutual will soon make a very memorable contribution, in the amount of a $2,500 Responsible Sports Community Grant. The Rugby Club of Springfield High School Club (u19) is hoping to be one of them.
Community Grants are part of Liberty Mutual's Responsible Sports program, which is an ongoing effort championing and celebrating responsibility in youth sports. This community-based program offers meaningful, easy-to-use educational resources for youth sports parents and coaches, including access to on-the-field game and practice preparation tools, as well as self-paced online coursework filled with learning tools, videos and topics addressing youth sports issues.
"The Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports program targets many of the issues we see happening at youth sporting events by shining a positive light on what it means to be a responsible coach and a responsible sports-parent," said Greg Gordon, vice president of Consumer Marketing at Liberty Mutual. "Beyond that, Liberty Mutual is making a significant financial contribution to support the efforts of local organizations like the Rugby Club of Springfield."
The Responsible Sports program, including the Community Grants, comes at a crucial time for communities like ours. Like other communities across the U.S., our own youth sports programs are under pressure from increasing numbers of participants, limited volunteer activity and mounting program management and administration costs.
The Responsible Sports program provides access to valuable resources and assets that can ensure our organizations thrive even under challenging circumstances.
"Being a club sport, and not-for-profit, all match fees, referee fees and membership dues are paid by each individual player," stated Bruce Adams, u19 coach. "If we are awarded the grant money, it will be used to help promote rugby throughout the Greater Springfield community."
Interested in playing rugby? The club's Web site is accepting early enrollments for spring 2010. For more information about the Rugby Club of Springfield go to www.springfieldrugbyclub.com.
The Rugby Club of Springfield, founded in 1969, celebrating its 40th anniversary, has fielded a men's club to the sport of rugby. Springfield RFC is one of the country's oldest clubs with a strong reputation within the New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU). The club is registered with NERFU and USA RUGBY. In 2007, the club expanded to include women's and high school (U19) boys and girls programs. The interest continues to grow for the high school club programs. We are drawing new and experienced players from Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, Palmer, Wilbraham, Ludlow, Westfield and East Longmeadow.
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