We started with one club who were determined to make a difference.
star* scheme began in December 2020 at Chew Valley Rugby Club, an extraordinary place which will be familiar to anyone who has ever been involved with grassroots rugby.
The club continues to deliver sport to the community for over 50 years and now has 12 junior teams, 3 senior men’s, and 2 women’s teams.
As an RFU accredited club, it is acknowledged as a centre of excellence providing high quality coaching and safeguarding support to an approved standard.
In 2020, during the lockdown resulting from the global COVID pandemic, a small group of CVRFC members met to discuss how the club could further impact the lives of young people in their immediate surroundings. From this conversation, the star* scheme was born.
Our Mission
Our mission is to make a material difference in the lives of young people and their families who have multiple adverse childhood/community experiences (ACEs) or mental health issues.
We measure the impact of our work with the following:
Research: Three forms of research including deep case studies using constructivist grounded theory approaches;
The only sports charity in the UK to utilise Constructivist Grounded Theory as our research base, our framework covers three measurements of development: broad, specific, and deep.
Broad asks three questions of anyone, at anytime, involved in our scheme with the aim of understanding the reach of star*. All our team members are empowered to collect responses, from the Chair of the Board, to the newest regional managers. This work is continuous and ever-evolving.
Specific observes the impact of the scheme on particular groups or subgroups with the aim of understanding a specific phenomena, such as accelerated referrals or achievements, as examined in Player Development Plans. This is conducted through prompted monologues, in the form of unstructured interviews, by our lead researcher.
Deep tracks the development of individual young people within star*, covering multiple regions, through three in-depth prompted monologues held across a season. The regional manager will not only listen to the young person, but adults surrounding the young person (coaches, teachers, family), to understand fully the profound changes that can occur as a result of our scheme.
Quarterly Reports: Progress reports from each club, including attendance records and Player Development Plans (PDP).
Each player is provided a unique PDP with tailored goals covering three areas: team skills, rugby skills, and relationship skills. Additionally, schools regularly report on the impact of star*, particularly on differences in behaviour and resilience.
Our attendance records reflect individual success at a group level with not only our ability to attract, but to retain players at our clubs.
Awards: Players receiving in-club rewards for their achievements.
Players at clubs they’ve accessed via our referral are often awarded for their efforts throughout a season, such as Most Improved Player, Team Player, or Player of the Season. Select players among those we have referred, who have consistently achieved by displaying high effort and team working in their clubs, have gone on to represent their clubs at different levels of the sport.
