Westport Minis Coach Training Requirements 2025
• Parents of children attending the minis and registered, do not need to be members
• All children attending the minis need to be registered after the initial trial period which ends on October 15th, 2025. All kids need to be registered after that date.
• First day back after summer break
o All coaches to meet at the club house at 9am to go through the following
 Go through gear and pass on gear
 Go through lockers
 Go through first aid kits
 Go through team communications for the season ahead (elect rep from each team)
 Hand out the HOW TO Guide for Coaches and Parents
 Go Through new centralised information page on Club Zap
 Any other issues
• Trial Period for kids at beginning of season before registration
o Coaches should make sure that the kids are in the correct age group (see chart below)
o Coaches should take name or child, parents and contact number for parents
o Coaches should ask for an allergy, injuries, sensitivity issues that the child may have in case any social or medical issues may impact the child or team
o For younger age groups, ask the parents to wait close to the pitch and observe from afar in case any issues come up
o Before training starts, tell the children what is going to happen during training and where the toilets are and how to raise any issues during training. Also tell them to make sure to have FUN
• Coach should print off the list from October cutoff date onwards to cross check attendance against registration. They can do this on their Sports Lomo Account / Team sheets Panel. 
• Each Minis Team needs to elect a team communicator to deal with all communications on behalf of your team on ClubZap and through any WhatsApp groups needed between the Minis Coordinator and other club representatives. It is important that communications are prompt to allow for planning and events. Pass on elected individuals details to the Minis Coordinator.
• Any parents of children that volunteer to help at training must do the following
o Garda Vetting. This course now lasts for 3 years as of September 2025. Older vetting certificates still have a 2-year end date https://www.irishrugby.ie/running-your-club/rugbyconnect/
o Safeguarding Course – online course and only needs to be completed once. Register on https://www.irishrugby.ie/running-your-club/rugbyconnect/
• Any parents that want to become a coach must do the following
o Garda Vetting. This course now lasts for 3 years as of September 2025. Older vetting certificates still have a 2-year end date

 https://www.irishrugby.ie/running-your-club/rugbyconnect/

 It is the responsibility of each elected team communicator to make sure that all coaches for their respective teams, is fully Garda Vetted. If their credentials fall due during the year, it is recommended that they apply for new credentials at the beginning of the year so that there are no interruptions during the year. (now lasts 3 years)
o Safeguarding Course – online course and only needs to be completed once.

https://www.irishrugby.ie/running-your-club/rugbyconnect/

o Connacht Minis Training Course held at Westport Rugby on Wednesday the 15th October. The €90 cost of this course is covered by the Club. Please pass your details onto Minis Coordinator before attending. This course needs to be completed just once by each coach.
o Once all the above certificates and courses are complete, the coach is encouraged to work through their course badges on their own valour.
• Club Zap is the main communication method for all things Westport Minis Rugby. The mini player must be registered with Westport Rugby through your Rugby Connect / Sports Lomo Account before registering for ClubZap. Once registered, simply go through the new user log in on Club Zap and choose your club (Westport RFC) age grade and chat group. It is best to download ClubZap on your phone and enable notifications. See below table for 2025 / 2026 age grades.
o Coaches can add members to Clubzap by sending parents a link from the settings tab on the Clubzap group page via WhatsApp of messenger. Once the parent accepts the link then the coach just must accept their access under settings and that is it.
• Club Gear – Westport Minis has secured Umbro as the new provider of gear for the 2025 / 2026 season. There will be an open day for Minis at the Club where you can purchase a Jersey and jumper for the price of a Jersey. After that date, the Jerseys will be available at Staunton’s Sports on Bridge Street, Westport Town. Details to follow
• There are a few web sites used by the club for different purposes throughout the year. This list will guide you on what site is used for what purpose.
o ClubZap - App and website for Team Communications and Minis Club Information page. We are working to centralise all Minis Information for parents and coaches on the ClubZap page. Informaiton to follow.
o Rugby Connect is SportsLomo. This can be confusing. New users can register on https://rugbyconnect.irfu.ie/ . Old users https://sportsmanager.ie/sportlomo/users/login -

Club Registration and Governance.
 Register for the Club on this site
 View your coaching certificates on this site
 Apply for your Garda Vetting on this site
 View your Safeguarding certification on this site
 You can also now renew your registration on the CluZap App for existing registrations.
o GAINLINE - https://education.irfu.ie/d2l/home - Education for volunteers and coaches 
 Do your active badge courses here.