Blackheath Rugby Club veteran introduces rugby to the masses
Habib Annous gets local and national recognition for his successful coaching programme, introducing over 2,000 children to the sport.
Habib’s helped introduce hundreds to rugby
Having first discovered rugby as an 11-year-old schoolboy at Christ’s Hospital school, Habib Annous loved the sport and later played flanker at Blackheath Rugby for more than 20 years.
When his sons Alexander and Christopher started playing at the club, Annous started coaching the minis and juniors and now, in the third year of a schools coaching programme he set up, he’s helped to ensure that more than 2,000 youngsters who would never have discovered the sport have had the chance to play too.
Habib helped many talented boys from the Blackheath club on their playing journey through the Saracens and the Kent Developing Player Pathway, including his son and a number of his team mates. He realised that many more youngsters would benefit from rugby and the sport’s values if they were given the opportunity to train and play.
Local and national recognition
His club was also keen to spread rugby and engage with local schoolchildren so, through the Blackheath Rugby Charitable Trust, a schools’ coaching programme was set up. Habib’s efforts to introduce rugby to a new audience of children and young people, focusing on both the game itself and the core values at its heart, saw him being given the Kent County Rugby Social Inclusion Award, and he was also nominated as a finalist in the RFU’s Honda Volunteer of the Year Awards.
“It was brilliant to have the volunteers and paid coaches recognised in that way, and it helped us continue to market the programme to local schools,” he says.
Coaching is provided by the Trust during curriculum time for primary school students (both boys and girls). The coaches, appointed by the club and working with school staff, introduce the children to the skills and values of rugby. Coaches go into schools for five weeks, working a day each week with Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. Festivals are then run at the club’s Hervey Road ground with every pupil receiving a medal, and awards given for performance and, most importantly, for displaying the spirit of rugby.
In secondary schools, coaches help school staff to run after-school clubs for girls and boys and they enjoy a festival at the club too.
Youngsters discovering rugby for the first time
Habib and Blackheath Rugby’s schools programme is providing a real benefit for the local community, with the coaches’ enthusiasm and professionalism helping to promote physical activity and resilience among the children involved.
The schools are delighted too. As one said “All the teachers and students have had so much fun and took so much from the sessions! We couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
The social benefit of the coaching, particularly in the more deprived areas of south-east London, is also a huge plus as the programme has now given over 2,000 primary school children and over 200 secondary school students a chance to try rugby and to enjoy the sport.
“The best thing,” says Habib, “is seeing how much the children enjoy the game and being part of a team. They have such fun and we have given youngsters who had never come across rugby the chance to discover the game and learn its values.”
