RUGBY CANADA LAUNCHES PLAYSMART
| RUGBY CANADA LAUNCHES PLAYSMART |
| TORONTO, ON — Rugby Canada is pleased to announce PlaySmart, its new player welfare system. The program aims to educate players, parents, coaches, match officials and administrators on player welfare with a particular focus on concussion management. “With the launch of Rugby Canada’s PlaySmart, Canadian Rugby will have a program that will ensure player welfare is front and centre as we grow the game across the country,” said Dustin Hopkins, Rugby Canada’s Manager of National Development. “The more players, coaches, referees and administrators that are informed about player safety, the better. Rugby Canada’s PlaySmart program is a call to action for everyone involved in the game to make sure they are knowledgeable on what it takes to provide a safe and enjoyable playing environment for our players. With its launch, Rugby Canada and it’s Provincial Unions, Clubs and Schools can look forward to improved safety in rugby as PlaySmart becomes infused into Canada's rugby landscape. “I am happy to say that that all of Rugby Canada’s staff and Board have shown great leadership in this area by completing the World Rugby online Rugby Ready and Concussion Management modules. We at Rugby Canada will unsure our key representatives continue to be educated in all areas of Player Welfare and we will work with all of our key stakeholders to ensure Rugby Canada’s PlaySmart becomes a world leading program for rugby.” As fans of the game of rugby, everyone has a responsibility to ensure that everything possible is done to protect our players their well being by ensuring the game is played safely. The health and safety of our players is paramount and Rugby Canada strives to ensure our players are playing in a safe environment. Effective February 1st, Rugby Canada recommends that anyone involved in community, club, high school, university, provincial, regional or national rugby take World Rugby’s online Concussion Management and Rugby Ready modules. "We are very committed to creating a safe environment for everyone involved in rugby,” Rugby Canada’s Manager of Community Coach Development Paul Hunter said. “A large part of Rugby Canada’s PlaySmart is to educate everyone associated with the game of rugby that players, parents, coaches, officials and administrators all have a responsibility to make the game of rugby safer at all levels. A crucial piece to the Rugby Canada PlaySmart campaign was to make free online education modules available to anyone at anytime. We are very satisfied that minimum standards of coaching and officiating rugby in Canada are now in place and that all coaches will be required to redo the online modules every 12 months.” For more information on Rugby Canada’s PlaySmart, please visit www.rugbycanada.ca/playsmart Rugby Canada Registered Club Coaches Club Coaches are requested to complete World Rugby Concussion Management for the General Public and World Rugby RugbyReady. Rugby Canada Registered Match Officials Match Officials are requested to complete World Rugby Concussion Management for the General Public, World Rugby RugbyReady and World Rugby Laws of the Game. Coaches and their associated medical therapists are encouraged to complete online player injury forms so that injury trends can be recorded and managed. About Rugby Canada’s PlaySmart Rugby Canada PlaySmart is a Player Welfare program that aims to educate Players, Parents, Coaches, Match Officials and Administrators on the safety of rugby across Canada. The health and safety of every player across the country is of paramount importance and Rugby Canada strives to ensure a safe playing environment at all levels. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that all players are protected by ensuring that the game is played safely. As of February 1st 2016, in the interest of player safety, Rugby Canada will be implementing the Rugby Canada PlaySmart program, which recommends that everyone involved at all levels of the game complete the World Rugby RugbyReady and World Rugby Concussion Management for the General Public modules. |
