Analysis of the necessity to promote girls’ rugby sevens in Romanian schools

Abstract

The present research is a sequence of the “Coaching Rugby 7s to Girls” project, which aims to improve the skills of coaches interested in girls’ rugby. There are only 4 women’s rugby teams in Romania with about 60-70 players, of which only 30% are from our country. The small number of females who practise this sport makes the selection and competition difficult. Our research aims to highlight the vulnerabilities faced by rugby coaches and female rugby athletes and find solutions for eliminating or diminishing prejudices like parents’ fears of letting their daughters practise a sport that can be considered tough. The research was carried out over a period of 3 weeks. The participants are 34 female rugby players and 31 rugby specialists. The research methods used are: scientific documentation, survey, mathematical and statistical method, graphical method. The results provide important data for knowing the challenges faced by coaches and women’s rugby 7s players in their activity and possible solutions to reduce them. Based on the results obtained, we consider it necessary to develop a strategy to promote women’s rugby among the school population, highlighting the formative values of this sport with the goal of changing the mentality about the game of rugby and convincing girls to practise it.