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Sport for all The club is deeply involved across the province of Connacht. Gavin explains. “We’ve 26 clubs and 40 schools across the province, 6,663 boys and girls playing mini and youth rugby (U7-U17) and 12,756 registered players in total in Connacht.” The women’s side is massively important, he says. “We’ve a full time dedicated member of staff looking after the growth of the women’s game across primary schools and clubs. “We now have 12 girls only mini-sections whereas in 2010 we didn’t have any – the underage girls were playing with the boys. “Along with fully fledged underage teams, we have youth competitions for girls, we’ve senior competitions for women and we’ve an underage team playing and winning trophies in provincial rugby competitions. We’ve also got a sevens team and a women’s senior team feeding players into the national teams. “We’re trying to ensure that every kid that gets a chance to pick up a ball and play rugby is getting well coached, so we’re trying to get all our coaches accredited now. “That means that we go to clubs rather than asking coaches to take time out to come here. We go to the clubs and help get them accredited. We try to help clubs with their facilities, if they want to access grants we’ll help them with the paperwork if required. We also help recruit, educate and support our referees’ association.” “Female participation has grown considerably,” Gavin says.
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