In May 2023, the Crusaders Rugby Club launched its two-year volunteer support project with funding from a $160,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). The initiative aims to strengthen the club’s volunteer programs and address the ongoing challenge of attracting, supporting, and retaining the volunteers needed to deliver high-quality community rugby programming.
Post-pandemic, the club has focused on rebuilding membership and diversifying its programming and revenue streams. While participants have returned in strong numbers, volunteers—who are essential to coaching, managing, and operating programs—have not returned at the same pace. As a result, a smaller group of long-standing volunteers has been carrying an unsustainable workload, contributing to burnout, lower retention, and difficulties offering the full breadth of programming the community demands. The OTF-supported project is designed to attract new volunteers, retain and support existing ones, and build sustainable systems that reduce reliance on a small number of time-stretched individuals. It also aims to modernize the club’s volunteer management processes and strengthen long-term program delivery.
Progress in Year One
During the first year of the project, the club has successfully introduced several significant volunteer supports, including:
Hiring a full-time staff member dedicated to supporting volunteer roles and reducing administrative burden on coaches and team managers.
Rolling out expanded coach-related training programs designed to encourage more individuals to volunteer as coaches or assistant coaches.
Increasing support and systemizing complex coaching tasks, helping to streamline expectations and reduce pressure on existing volunteers.
Focus for Year Two
In the coming year, the project will shift toward deeper structural improvements in volunteer engagement and support, including:
Introducing a comprehensive volunteer engagement and management program for the club.
Improving the overall volunteer experience, with clear pathways, expectations, and recognition.
Providing enhanced training for volunteers beyond coaching, including onboarding, role-specific how-to guides, event plans, and other supports.
Leadership Reflections
“This grant will be transformational in rebuilding and developing volunteerism within the club,” said Chris Tudor Price, President.
“Community sports clubs—and rugby clubs in particular—are entirely reliant on volunteerism to survive. As our club has grown dramatically since 2019 in membership, programming, and operational complexity, we’ve reached an inflection point. Cru has been blessed with a core, long-term group of volunteers who have operated, sustained, and grown the club. But we now need a more systematic volunteer program that encourages, trains, and sustains a larger base of coaches, managers, directors, and other essential volunteers—reducing the demands on a few and minimizing the risk of burnout.”
“We are enormously grateful for the support of MPP Stephen Crawford and the Ontario Trillium Foundation,” added Tudor Price.
“This funding allows us to address volunteer-capacity challenges in both the short and long term. I also want to thank our board of directors, who have worked tirelessly over several years to grow, diversify, and operationalize the club as a sustainable going concern. It has been a massive team effort to put the Crusaders in a position to be eligible for OTF support.”
The Crusaders Rugby Club remains Canada’s largest community rugby club, serving more than 1,400 participants annually across Oakville, Halton, and the western GTA. Strengthening its volunteer base is essential to supporting this growth and ensuring the club continues to deliver accessible, safe, and high-quality rugby programming for youth and adults of all ages.
About the Ontario Trillium Foundation
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario and one of Canada’s leading grantmakers. OTF invests in community-based initiatives that build healthy and vibrant communities across the province. Through its various funding streams, OTF supports projects that strengthen organizations, enhance community well-being, and create lasting impact. In 2023–24, OTF invested more than $115 million into 644 projects and partnerships to help Ontarians thrive.
ABOUT CRU YOGA
Prepare your yoga mats and gear up for some “Om”-azing fun! Each week we are blessed to have the extraordinary Erin from Power Yoga Canada at the helm. You can check out her impressive yoga moves on Instagram @erinmarie_yoga.
When: Sundays at 11:00am, for 1 hour.
Where: Crusaders Park (Clubhouse)
What you need to bring: Yoga mat (ideally for you), a towel (for everyone’s benefit) and a vegan friend (they love this kinda stuff)
Who can participate: Registered club members and their immediate family (or families… we’re not judging). Yoga sessions will cater for all skill and comfort levels from beginners to advanced.
Cost: $5 per person… but bring your partner or offspring (16+) for no additional cost. Please bring cash.
You may be thinking “But isn’t a yoga class normally about $20?” and the answer would be “Yes” so take advantage of this amazing value deal before we realize!!! This is OUR club and we are not out to make money from this venture, we are just trying to add value to YOUR Crusaders membership.
We hope to see you on Sunday(s) and plan to keep running as long as attendance remains strong and until we can move outdoors to let the sunshine see our Downward Prop!
Mens and Ladies Touch Rugby sessions kicked off earlier this week… lots of sweaty bodies limped into the clubhouse for post run-around refreshments.
Parents and players of current and former glory are encouraged to join us for Touch Rugby. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never thrown a ball backwards or if you don’t know what a Maori sidestep is – we’ll show you all you need to know in a non-judgemental and fun environment. Plus, finish the evening with a sociable beverage in the bar afterwards! Reward (or undo) all your hard work!
Visit crusadersrugby.club/touch for more details and to sign up for the Crusaders Touch Rugby season now, grab a few friends or team parents, unwitting family member and drag them along too, and let’s have a ball… or at least play with one… together!
Note – Existing club members (including paid up social members and Alumni) can register for the low price of $30 and gain access to all of the sessions and leagues.
Next Friday (24th) is the start of our Co-Ed Spring Touch League. If you’re registered for the Tuesday sessions, you can also play Friday league too at no extra charge (and vice versa). Games will start at 6:30pm and there will be 3-4 games each night. If you have a team of registered players (12 players is ideal) let Pat Daniels know, otherwise show up next Friday and you will be allocated to a team to play with.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR TOUCH RUGBY NOW
Our U16 and U18 Boys, under the guidance of Stephen Gittens and Don Kroes, are making their final preparations for their respective Elite Divisions at Tropical 7’s in Tampa in 2 weeks time.
Send them some love on socials and come back in 2 weeks to watch their games and see their progress. Pool games take place on Friday March 29 and the play-off games on Saturday March 30.
This is the first time sending a U18 Cru team but 2 years ago, our U16 Boys came 3rd. Last year, the same boys finished 2nd after running out of gas in the final. Many of those U16 boy’s are now our U18’s…
Your Crusader’s invites you to come out for our first “Try Rugby” session of the 2024 season!
As always, our Try Rugby events are FREE OF CHARGE and open to the public. This session is targeted at any boys or girls aged of 4 – 14 who are curious about the sport. The session will include instruction on the basics of rugby (catch/pass, passing backwards etc.) and an opportunity to meet coaches, parents and other playing members.
Are you already a dedicated Cru Player? Want to share your love of rugby with a friend? Invite them out or better still, bring them along with you!
When?
- Friday, March 29, 2024 12-1pm (Ages 4-10)
- Friday, March 29, 2024 1-2pm (Ages 11-14)
Where?
Indoors at Appleby College’s Gymnasium
540 Lakeshore Rd W, Oakville, ON L6K 3P1 [map]
What to bring?
- water
- running shoes
- a friend?
Who?
Anyone aged between 4-14, no experience needed!
Come out and try rugby before the club season starts! Make sure you have registered. If you have any questions, please email general.manager@crusadersrugby.ca
Please arrive 10 minutes early to ensure you get the full value out of the session.
Huge congratulations to Crusaders Taylor Perry and Liam Bowman who have debuted this weekend for Canada at the Los Angeles 7s.
Their journey continues today with Canada’s Women into the Cup Quarter Finals at 1:14pm EST. Their sights are set on beating France for a Semi Final spot. Meanwhile Canada’s Mens team’s fortunes haven’t faired as well this weekend. They go head-to-head with South Africa in the 11th place play off at 2:48pm EST.
Good luck to both of our Crusaders in this Olympic year. Let’s get some game time and put Oakville firmly on the Canadian rugby map!
Register early! The Sports of All Sorts camp is a week-long multi-sport camp intended to introduce athletes to a number of sports and activities, including rugby. Campers will spend most of the day outside on the grass fields, learning the basics of a different sport each day and building fundamental skills. Each afternoon will feature a different mini-tournament in the sport of the day, offering kids a chance to put their new skills to the test and have a ton of fun. The best part about multi-sport camps is that no experience is needed, we welcome campers with a wide variety of skill levels.
- Open to everyone aged 9-13 years-old
- Sports included: touch football, rugby, ultimate frisbee, soccer, badminton, croquet, volleyball, soccer, cricket, dodgeball, field baseball, and camp games.
- Healthy, outdoor-based coaching by experienced university-aged coaches.
- An introduction to the values of rugby and your local rugby club.
- Endless fun!
- Sign up for as many weeks as you’d like!
Dates:
- Camp Week 1 – week of July 2-5, 2024, 4 days ($240)
- Camp Week 2 – week of July 8, 2024 5 days
- Camp Week 3 – week of July 15, 2024, 5 days
- Camp Week 4 – week of July 22, 2024, 5 days
- Camp Week 5 – week of July 29, 2024, 5 days
- Camp Week 6 – week of Aug 6-9, 2024, 4 days ($240)
- Camp Week 7 – week of Aug 19, 2024, 5 days
- Camp Week 7 – week of Aug 26, 2024, 5 days
Registration: https://clubshop.crusadersrugby.club/products/junior-sports-of-all-sorts-registration
Details:
- Open to club members and non-members/public
- Weekdays, 9am – 4pm
- Location: Crusaders Rugby Club, 2214 Ninth Line, Oakville, ON
Costs:
- $295/week (no HST / HST exempt)
Camp Cancellations/Refunds:
- In the event that the club is unable to run the camp weeks, the club will fully reimburse fees.
- Refunds will not be offered for camps within 7 days of the commencement of the week.
Questions? Feel free to email the Junior Camps team at junior.camps@crusadersrugby.ca
More info? Click here for Camp Program Overview and information on other Crusaders summer camps.
