John Arnalukjuak High School in Nunavut launches new rugby program through HSBC Community Rugby Fund
As Rugby Canada continues to celebrate Indigenous History Month, we spotlight one of the 2021 Community Rugby Fund recipients, the John Arnalukjuak High School, as they launch their brand-new rugby program. Join the conversation on social media using #NIHM2022.
June 27, 2022 (Arviat, NU) – With only a few rugby balls currently available to students, John Arnalukjuak High School (JAHS) in Nunavut, with help from the HSBC Community Rugby Fund, has launched the first ever rugby program in the history of the territory.
Located in the Arviat community, JAHS identified the game of rugby as an opportunity to offer additional sport programs for students, addressing the larger need of more extracurricular activities for students in Arviat. Students at the schools and in the surrounding community have already expressed interest in learning more about rugby.
“We are very happy with the interest and numbers that we have had so far,” said Samantha Lake, teacher at JAHS in Arviat. “We have a solid group of Grade 10 and 11 students who will be great leaders for the program in the coming years. By the end of the school year we were seeing 15 to 20 students practicing which is an incredible numbers for us.”
With the use of the Rugby Canada Rookie Rugby program, the first stage of the project introduced students to rugby within their scheduled physical education classes. Rugby will not only be introduced to students of JAHS but youths from Oitiqliq Middle School and Levi Angmak Elementary School as well.
By implementing rugby into the physical education program at three schools in Arviat, the hope is to generate enough interest amongst the students to participate in additional after school programming. The funding from HSBC will support the programs run as part of the physical education program and one to two sessions per week in an after-school program.
“The sport is very new to most of the students, but they are loving it and catching on very quickly,” added Lake. “I am excited to see them progress and hope to introduce contact in the fall when the community turf will be usable. We have started to plan an outdoor, community-based rugby event when we return to school in August. The goal of this is to have a fun day for the community and to increase the exposure to the sport.”
The overall goal of the project will aim to have a minimum of 20 students from each of the three schools participating in rugby to allow for 7s, 15s and flag competition.
Part of the funding will also be used to provide students and schools with the appropriate equipment needed to run the new program. Shorts, t-shirts, and cleats will be provided to each player and additional funding will be given to the schools to purchase rugby balls, flags, cones, and tackle bags.