Suisserugby forms Women’s Rugby Performance Working Group
Yverdon-les-Bains, 18/11/2018 - The Swiss Rugby Union has formed a new Women’s Rugby Performance Working Group. The group consists of the Coaches, Managers, and Captains of the Swiss Women’s National Senior 7s, Senior XV’s, and U18 teams, as well as the Swiss Rugby Union’s CEO, its Technical Director, and the President of its Women’s Commission.
The working group had its first meeting on Sunday, November 18th, 2018, in Yverdon, on the fringes of the Suisserugby Day event going on at the same location that weekend.
The working group discussed strategic themes related to the Swiss Women’s Rugby performance programmes. In its first session, the entire working group agreed on wanting to create sustainability and ensure the performance programmes’ future through greater investment in the youth programmes, while at the same time endeavouring to keep up the current standard (as of 2018) of the senior programmes. The members of the group acknowledged that all stakeholders agree on this twofold aim of the performance programme.
It was further agreed that in a union with a limited budget, in order to increase investment in the junior programme while maintaining investment in the senior programmes, new funding must be found. All members of the working group expressed their will to collaborate on finding more funding for the programmes. Namely, for the ongoing 2018-19 season, the goal was set of finding an additional 30-40’000 Swiss Francs. The deadline to secure such funding would be the beginning of March 2019, in order to implement an adequate programme for the rest of the season. Failure to secure such funding will mean investment in the rest of the season’s programmes is endangered.
While it was acknowledged that the Swiss Rugby Union's aim is to participate in the best possible European Tournament it can access at each level, it was also acknowledged that budget constrains may sometimes limit this commitment. The members of the group discussed the importance of questioning the participation in certain tournaments over others, given their cost factors, and given the value derived from them in terms of player experience, practice, pressure, etc, going into the future.
The further points discussed by the group included an acknowledgement and testimony to the value of the past investment by the Union into the senior 7s programme, a value which goes beyond 12 players’ participation at the European Championships, but rather extends to the impact the entire programme has had on them and their own clubs.
Additionally, improvement of the women’s performance programme’s image through better communication strategies was discussed, as well as a more thorough and anticipated season planning for the entire programme.
Different topics on women’s rugby development were mentioned, as these must underpin the entire women’s performance programme. They will be discussed in more detail in the Development group meeting, to be held in the coming weeks. The Performance Working Group will meet again in the beginning of 2019.
The founding of this working group marks another historic moment in Swiss Rugby, and is a testament to the growing importance and sophistication of the women's programmes inside the Union.
The Swiss Rugby Union thanks all members of the group for their continued commitment and dedication to the women's performance programmes.
