Come and give it a try! Open Day at Mayo rugby club this weekend

This Saturday (January 10), offers an excellent opportunity for young girls to get involved in rugby in Mayo.

Westport Rugby Club opens their doors for a Minis Open Day out on their pitches in Carraholly from 10am.

Everybody born 2014 or younger are invited to come down and just give it a try for the day.  

"And we've just seen the powerful impact in the membership numbers," says Niamh Martin, head of girls coaching at Westport RFC: "We feel that like this path of the girls only safeguards our minis to to stay playing sport on to the teenage years. And myself and the coaches are very honoured to be in position, but also we absolutely love it ourselves. So we want to build on the numbers."

Westport RFC have every age grade covered. The age grades are two years in girls' and women's rugby.

"I would like to say thanks to the work of former president Liz Brady, for the support she gave for the girls only teams", acknowledges Martin.

"Girls go from under eights, under tens, under twelves. And that's your minis age groups. And we have teams at all those levels. And then you're under 14, under 16 and under 18 years. And then you're on to the senior team. And we have a team representing all age groups in Westport."

It's really a non-commitment for everyone to come down on the Saturday morning and just give it a go. 

"There's some hot chocolate afterwards. And the coaches and some senior players will bring you through some games and teach you what it's like to be part of a rugby team, because the second you go down there, you're one of us. We don't let you leave without that belief," explains Martin.

Obviously, the club thinks about its long-term perspective. Currently there are about 25 women on the senior panel. So in order to get those numbers to filter all the way up through, the club needs to start with strong minis teams.

"My own children came through it as well. So I would be very passionate. My own daughter has been playing since she was five. So she's going to graduate onto the youth this year. So this is her last season with the minis. But she will come down. And what we do with the girls that have moved on to the youth, we ask them to come down and help coach. It bridges that divide from an adult to a child to have that teenage coach there."

And who knows, the girls attending Saturday might end up playing for Connacht like Eva McCormack, Ava Ryder, Grace Browne Moran or Lily Brady, to name a few.

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