Wednesday evening saw 10 of London Skolars Junior Coaches and players gather at the club to complete the Emergency First Aid Course. The brand new course which has been put together by medical professionals from the RFL and the FA provides coaches with the basic skills that will help them respond appropriately should they need to intervene to perform life-saving measures on a player.

Junior coaches from the club were joined on the course by Community Development Manager Matt Cuss, Reserve Team players Donovan Noble and Rodell Reid with U17 half-backs Thomas Hamer and Alex Pentecost completing the cohort. The course was delivered by Andy Lindley who worked alongside medical professionals to devise the content of the course.

The coaches and players were led through the theory behind principles of First Aid, Emergency Action Plans, Reacting to Incidents and Concussion Protocols, before then taking part in practical assessments which looked at CPR and the Resuscitation Cycle, use of a Defibrillator, Recovery Position and Spinal Injury management.

Community Development Manager Matt Cuss, who facilitated the course spoke about the importance of such qualifications ‘here at London Skolars we know all too well the devastating incidents that can happen on the rugby field, so it’s important that we have individuals across all the age-groups that are well resourced and fully qualified to act if a life-threating medical condition develops or a serious injury is sustained during one of our games.’ He continued ‘courses like this one are a big part of our plan to continue to drive standards here at London Skolars Minis and Juniors, we know we provide a top quality playing and coaching experience on the field for our youngsters, but it’s equally important that we continue to develop and match that experience with our off field actions as well.’

Cuss continued ‘our Mini’s and Juniors will officially re-commence on January 30^th with their Registration Day, which will take place before the 1^st team play their first game of 2016 at New River in the much anticipated ‘London Clash’ against London Broncos. Between now and then the club will run some keep warm sessions, and with the Community Department active in a number of local schools already we hope to see lots of new faces once again for the 2016 season.

With numbers on the field growing, parents and players can rest assured that London Skolars are going above and beyond in the off-season, to ensure the best experience possible for everyone involved.