Once Sports Leaders are safely recruited into your club, appropriately trained with adequate supervision in place, club personnel can work together to ensure best practice is maintained.

The Club Welfare Officer can use the Club Action Plan to ensure best practice is maintained. Some useful ways of implementing this includes parents meetings and coaches meetings at the start of the season, reports to Youth Coordinator and club management Committee and information sessions for all throughout the season.

One important step in ensuring best practice is to communicate with the Age-Grade Players. This will allow the club to evaluate the activities that are in place at each level; if adults are happy with the programme of activities but the players are not engaging with them, the rugby club will not meet their needs, which leads to potential dropout of Age-Grade players and the unsustainable youth programmes.

Below are links to documents and that will assist you in implementing best practices in a number of areas in your club that relate to Age-Grade Player Welfare

• How to achieve best practice

• Regulations, Roles and Responsibilities

• Safeguarding Officers & the IRFU Programme

• Supervision & Safety

• Bullying and the Age-Grade Player

• Alcohol, Smoking and Supplements

• Travel, Touring and Hosting

• Nutrition

• Concussions

• First Aid

• Mental Health

• Communication, Images and Social Networking

• Club Action Plan

• Alcohol and Young People - The Effects

ISPCC / IRFU Anti Bullying Shield

IRFU Anti Bullying Statement