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HITZ, Premiership Rugby’s award-winning education and employability programme, celebrated some of the best community rugby programs in the UK during its award ceremony earlier this week.
The 2018 HITZ Awards, a London ceremony at the BT Centre, saw the likes of World Cup winner Alphonsi in attendance, as well as past and present Gallagher Premiership Rugby stars Genge and Jackson.
HITZ uses rugby’s core values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship to get young people not in education, training or employment (NEET) back into education, training, apprenticeships and/or employment, and is delivered nationally by England’s 12 professional rugby clubs. HITZ works with over 2,000 14-18 year-olds across England every year.
Tracey Crouch, UK Minister for Sport & Civil Society, although unable to attend, said: “Premiership Rugby’s HITZ programme is a great example of how sport can transform lives.
“Over the last ten years it has helped young people across the country develop life-skills and qualifications and I hope it goes from strength to strength over the next decade.”
HITZ won the Barclays Sport for Employability and Enterprise Award at the 2015 Beyond Sport Global Awards. HITZ is also a member of the Beyond Sport Global Network. Learn more about all of the 2,700 + organizations in the Beyond Sport family using sport for good here.
HITZ increases young people’s resilience, self-reliance and confidence and gives them the necessary personal, life and employability skills to get back into education, training, apprenticeships and employment.
More than 80% of participants find work or return to education after the scheme and more than 75% report improved confidence and resilience. HITZ is delivered by Premiership Rugby’s 13-member rugby clubs with the help of its funders Land Rover, Wooden Spoon and Comic Relief.
Land Rover ambassador Alphonsi, who won the 2014 World Cup, and handed out the Rugby Ambassador Award to Bath Rugby’s Jade Whale, said: “I have seen first-hand the positive impact the HITZ programme can and has had on young people’s lives. Rugby is a powerful catalyst for good and offers these young people the skills and confidence that can put their lives back on track.”
Jade was one of four winners with Aidan Seal (Exeter Chiefs), Ross Ferguson (London Irish) and Carter Moran (Wasps) also picking up awards. Alphonsi was joined by Jackson, Fergus Mulchrone and fellow Land Rover ambassador Genge.
HITZ passed a major milestone when its 13,000th participant completed the project last summer, with the milestone making the scheme one of the longest running and most successful NEET focused sports project in England.
Wayne Morris, Community and CSR director at Premiership Rugby, said: “HITZ is proof of the power of rugby to improve character, resilience and achievement in the classroom and the workplace.
“It is also an example of how head teachers and school governors could use sport strategically to support pupils at risk of disengaging with education and could build partnerships with the professional sports sector and enhance their PSHE provision.
“We have an ambitious goal to use our brands, players and assets to make a major contribution to improve the lives of disadvantaged people in our communities. That vision is called “A Plan to Improve A Million Lives”. We look forward to working with Government, charities and the private sector to help make that dream come true. Next year’s Rugby World Cup can be a huge boost to the sport and we are ready to maximise its impact.”
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