Keep Your Boots On!
Are you a Young Person looking to get involved in officating? Are you an Adult thinking of developing a Young Match Official (YMO) Programme or currently supporting young people in Rugby Union?
This toolkit provides the YMO Guidebook (New!), stories from Young People in Officiating about how YMO Programmes have impacted them, and loads of handy resources to help support young people.
5. Young Match Officials (YMO)
Are you a school, college, university, club, referee society interested in how to engage with young people? Recognise the benefits that young people can gain from their engagement with officating, as a means to:
- support health and fitness
- enhance communication skills
- experience leadership and management in a practical environment
- help enhance personal growth and development
YMO Programmes can support any environment, and help engage young people in making rugby happen!
1. Becoming a Young Match Official
Christophe Ridley, one of the youngest professional referees, shares his thoughts on the benefits from becoming a referee, from his personal experiences and he has balanced his refereeing, alongside studies and personal development outside of sport.
2. Young Match Official Programme
A Young Match Official programme provides the opportunity for young people to experience a wide range of skills in a fun environment! Below you’ll find a quick guide to running a YMO Programme, the BRAND NEW YMO Guidebook plus other resources including funding and bringing more young volunteers into the game.
3. The Importance of YMO and why YOU should have a GO!
The Young Match Officials fulfil a vital role in the long term growth and sustainability of the game. This is reflected in the thoughts of Jon Curry, Level 4 coach and John Lawn, Head of Game Development.
4. The Young Person's Voice
Listen to what some of the young match officials have to say and share about their journey.
5. Want Your Voice Heard?
This is your chance to share with the world, who you are, where your from, why you got into refereeing, what you enjoy about it and offer any tips or advice to other young people, and hopefully encourage them to “give it a go”.
It couldn’t be simpler – we would like you to use a smartphone to create a 30-60 second video/clip and send it to us. Don’t worry about practising your lines, hair or make up, be as natural as you can be.
There is a guide should you require it, but more importantly there is a consent form that must be signed and sent with your video/clip, if you want us to be able to use this on our social media pages.
Check out the info below on how to send us your videos and stories!