Volunteers’ Week 2021: Volunteer Profiles – Friday 4 June

For Volunteers Week 2021 (1 – 7 June), Ulster Rugby will be showcasing some of our outstanding rugby volunteers and highlighting the great work carried out by these individuals across the province.

Kathryn McBurney

Volunteer Role:  Rugby Coach Assistant for children and adults with learning disabilities at Newforge Taggers (NFT)

What do you do?

“As a volunteer at NFT, I help support the coaches before training with drill set-up, throughout the session and afterwards. When I am with the under or over-15s, it is my role to help facilitate the players in drills and tag rugby matches. Sometimes this can be adapting drills to a player’s specific needs for example if the player uses a wheelchair, to improve their rugby skills and knowledge through skill-focused drills and matches. Throughout our sessions, we work to improve everyone’s communication and team-working skills which will create a stronger team but also these skills are transferable to players day to day lives.“

Why did you get involved in volunteering?

My family has had a long association with the club so when I became old enough, I signed up to volunteer as my dad and my sister were already volunteering with the club.

What inspired you to become a volunteer?

When I heard about the great work that NFT were doing with the players from conversations with my dad and sister who had witnessed the benefits families were getting from being involved in rugby, I wanted to get involved so I applied for a volunteer role.

 

Brian Mitchell

Volunteer Role: Young Persons’ Advisory Group (YPAG)

What do you do?

As a group, we come together to discuss different topics regarding issues that affect young players and volunteers involved in rugby in Ulster and act as a voice for many young people involved in our sport.

Why did you get involved?

I decided to apply for the role as I thought it would be interesting to see all the work that is put into making youth rugby a better game for young people and I decided I wanted to be involved.

What have you enjoyed about this role?

The bit I have enjoyed the most so far is meeting new people and interacting with people around a similar age with similar interest to discuss ideas on how to make the game better for young people going forward.

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