Whether it’s feeding disadvantaged children, encouraging more kids to read or developing young athletes, Coventry Rugby Club is nurturing talent.

Charter Savings Bank’s purpose is to help customers, colleagues and communities prosper.

After partnering with Coventry Rugby Club in 2019 together we’ve helped hundreds of disadvantaged children across Coventry and the wider West Midlands area to gain access to sport, nutrition and education through our various initiatives.

Led by one of Coventry’s elite first team players, the Rugby & Reading programme in local schools has encouraged many boys and girls aged between five and 11 to pick up a book and discover the joy of reading. As part of the programme they’re inspired by an hour of enthusiastic storytelling, before also experiencing an energetic game of tag rugby. Seeing a rugby player read to them at their school helps to show that reading really is for everyone!

And our Rugby in Schools partnership gives children aged between five and 16 access to coaching sessions with Coventry’s top performing first team players and coaches.

We also support Coventry Rugby Club’s Project:500 which uses sport to drive positive engagement with disadvantaged children. The community team and senior academy players on the Coventry Moulton Educational Coaching pathway help to lead these children in a multi-sport camp during the school holidays.

The children are provided with a nutritional breakfast and lunch during the day as well as receiving a week’s worth of food to take home for their family at the end of the day. Academy players that participate with the project get to further their coaching experience and feel a sense of pride as they give back to their community.

In addition to the community-focused programmes above, Coventry Netball has now been launched to improve wellbeing and nurture talent within Coventry schools and the wider community. This collaboration with local clubs and schools supports Coventry Rugby Club’s plan to identify coaches and create clear exit routes for young players into clubs, county and performance netball.

The programme will help to develop young athletes’ academic leadership and life skills, nurturing all levels from grass roots participation to Elite Performer Netball players. In an inclusive environment, the Academy will incorporate technical and tactical sessions which will run alongside academic studies.

Bringing a wealth of experience, Wes Blair has joined the club as Head of Community and Netball to help implement the local netball infrastructure on both a club and elite performance level. She’s aiming to enable a route for those wishing to reach an elite performance level as well as increase netball participation in primary and secondary schools.

There’s so much potential talent in our local communities and we’re excited to see what the future holds. We’re pleased to support Coventry Rugby Club as they continue to nurture young athletes and use the power of sport to make a positive impact.