The HITZ programme comes to Rochdale

Andrew Foster outside of Rochdale R.U.F.C.

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Rochdale Rugby Club has been chosen to run a new HITZ programme to help young people aged 16-18 who are not currently in employment, education or training.

The new programme, HITZ Rochdale is being run with Sale Sharks, the North West’s only Premiership rugby club, who have been running a HITZ programme in Manchester for the last two years.

The aim of the programme is to use a combination of rugby and sport to help encourage young people who have left school without going to college or without a job, to get back into education.

As well as helping them to gain a qualification, they will also get support to improve their Maths and English, gain work opportunity placements and extra employability skills. They will also take part in additional sporting sessions to help provide an extra incentive to take part in the programme.

The roll out of the programme in Rochdale is in partnership with YMCA Training and will be all based out of the rugby club.

Andrew Foster, one of Sale Sharks first team players, will be leading on the programme as he has been taken on as the HITZ Rochdale Officer.

His job will be to recruit young people on to the programme, deliver educational sessions including Maths and English and a variety of sporting sessions, to help secure work placements and progress young people into a positive destination.

The award winning HITZ programme tackles some of the greatest challenges facing young people today - unemployment, crime and disillusionment. Delivered nationally by Premiership Rugby and funded by national partners Barclays, Comic Relief, Land Rover and Wooden Spoon, HITZ uses rugby to increase young people’s resilience, self-reliance and confidence. It gives them the skills to get back into education, vocational training, apprenticeships and employment.