Forty eight Enniskillen youth players, 12 of them girls, travelled to University of Ulster, Jordanstown Campus, on Saturday, for a CRY ECG Testing Session.
CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) are a charity-based organisation whose mission is to raise awareness of undetected cardiac abnormalities in young, apparently healthy individuals.
They stress that exercise is NOT bad for you, but can act as a trigger if there is already an underlying heart condition.
The test includes an Electrocardiogram (ECG)) that examines the electrical activity within your heart, and an Echocardiogram (ECHO), an ultrasound scan of the heart that measures cardiac dimensions and the flow of the blood in and out of the heart.
After, these results are taken to a consultant cardiologist, whose speciality is cardiac adaptation in athletic individuals.
It is understood Enniskillen are the first rugby club in the province to provide these tests for their youth players and David Boyd, Ulster Branch's Provincial Domestic Games manager was on hand to provide support and encourage other rugby clubs to follow their example.
The costs of the tests, currently £35 per person, was met by the youth section of the Fermanagh club from their own fund raising effort, primarily a quarterly Youth Fund Draw, the first draw of which takes place on Saturday before the First XV match, when the first prize will be £500, with two further £50 prizes.
Anyone, club member or parent, who wants to enter into the Youth Draw, should contact any member of the youth coaching team. With the numbers being tested, additional fundraising was undertaken in the form of bag packing at Asda during August, and the money has been spent wisely.
