NPR

Slick wrote: Thu Feb 29, 2024 4:58 pm Not sure if I've mentioned that my daughter started "training" this year with the U6's at the club and absolutely loves it - far more than the boy. Every team we play in the U8's that my boy is in seems to have a girl or two and there were 4 at our U6's last week.

Anyway, one of the local clubs, Stew Mel, is hosting a training and games day just for girls on Sunday which we are going to. I think it's a brilliant initiative - they have invited girls from clubs all over the local area to all come together and train/play together. To be honest, I'm a bit pissed off with our club that I had to hear it through a parent at a different club as no one had sent the message to the age group coaches, but nonetheless, looking forward to it.

clydecloggie wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2024 3:58 pm Strictly speaking not within the remit of this topic anymore, but a 'nice' throwback Sunday for my oldest son. He's now a first-year senior and against the odds has managed to establish himself as a starting flanker for the club's first XV. Yesterday he received his third yellow card ever, from the same ref who gave him his first two in junior rugby. This time it was for offside in the red zone, where he pounced on a loose ball after a tackle a few metres in front of his try line.

He was absolutely raging about it and adamant that he was onside and had timed his shooting up to perfection.

This morning he came down for breakfast still raging, but with a still from the Veo match footage (WHAT A SYSTEM btw, but I digress) which admittedly showed beyond doubt that he was still behind the try line when the opposing scrum half tapped the ball from a penalty putting him clearly onside, plus messages from his team mates and coach raging along with him.

It made me all teary eyed and nostalgic to see the big boy behaving like the wee boy he was, totally committed to his rugby and unable to deal with the Grave Injustice of the ref's calls.

Raggs wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2024 8:14 pm Hopefully we've finally got our giant for our u12s. Plenty of sides have a "surely he's not 12" player, now we might have one.

Ovals wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:18 pm

Raggs wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2024 8:14 pm Hopefully we've finally got our giant for our u12s. Plenty of sides have a "surely he's not 12" player, now we might have one.

None of the girls in our teams are on the large side - and size is a huge advantage at age group rugby. On the other hand, it does make the 'less large' teams rely more heavily on developing skills and not just 'give it to the fat kid'. It can be a bit dispiriting though when a team with a few big kids just trample on them.

Ovals wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:18 pm

Raggs wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2024 8:14 pm Hopefully we've finally got our giant for our u12s. Plenty of sides have a "surely he's not 12" player, now we might have one.

None of the girls in our teams are on the large side - and size is a huge advantage at age group rugby. On the other hand, it does make the 'less large' teams rely more heavily on developing skills and not just 'give it to the fat kid'. It can be a bit dispiriting though when a team with a few big kids just trample on them.

Slick wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2024 10:42 am Must admit I got very frustrated at our U8 training yesterday - obviously kept it to myself at the time.

We played a team last week that were really good, had players running onto the ball at pace after a touch, had a pivot who was spinning it wide after a touch etc. They crushed everyone, but to me it was pretty simple coaching and something we could incorporate. But at the session this week the head coaches set up a series of way over complicated drills that obviously wouldn't work, and didn't.

One took 15 minutes to set up and explain (with the kids just standing still) and was then abandoned after 2 minutes as none of them knew what the fuck they were meant to be doing. I'm very wary of saying anything, but it was an entirely wasted session when they learnt nothing.

clydecloggie wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2024 12:41 pm Agree with that Raggs.

Our club has a strict non-selection policy until U10, with U12s only selecting for one big annual tournament where all the leading clubs send their best players to. And on that day one of those clubs will organise an equally big tournament for all the other players. League structure starts at U13 and that's where we start selecting squads.

That's not to say that the basics of passing in front and running onto the ball should not be taught at U8s, but it should be done in a fun and active way.

Raggs wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2024 11:31 am

Slick wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2024 10:42 am Must admit I got very frustrated at our U8 training yesterday - obviously kept it to myself at the time.

We played a team last week that were really good, had players running onto the ball at pace after a touch, had a pivot who was spinning it wide after a touch etc. They crushed everyone, but to me it was pretty simple coaching and something we could incorporate. But at the session this week the head coaches set up a series of way over complicated drills that obviously wouldn't work, and didn't.

One took 15 minutes to set up and explain (with the kids just standing still) and was then abandoned after 2 minutes as none of them knew what the fuck they were meant to be doing. I'm very wary of saying anything, but it was an entirely wasted session when they learnt nothing.

Sounds like the coaching wasn't great on your coaches part. Kids standing still for that long is just insane, especially at u8s.

At the same time, what you saw that other team do, has likely come from a lot of drills and kids who are desperate to win, rather than focusing on having fun. I strongly suspect I could have produced something like that at u8s. But I'd have only had half a dozen kids left in the team.

Larger clubs can take advantage of picking up the most enthusiastic/determined/"professional" kids at any age. Which is fine, but their attitude to losing players from the bottom rungs, can be awful. A club we have a fair bit of interaction with, has 80 kids or so per age group, runs them in tiers rather than mixing abilities, and really doesn't care about the worst ones simply leaving the club (and that will also mean the sport), as they have a large waiting list to pick and choose from once they're gone.

U8s should be having a ton of fun, and quite simply, I'm highly suspicious of any team that sends a team that's seemingly as effective as the kids you're describing.

Slick wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2024 3:09 pm

Raggs wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2024 11:31 am

Slick wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2024 10:42 am Must admit I got very frustrated at our U8 training yesterday - obviously kept it to myself at the time.

We played a team last week that were really good, had players running onto the ball at pace after a touch, had a pivot who was spinning it wide after a touch etc. They crushed everyone, but to me it was pretty simple coaching and something we could incorporate. But at the session this week the head coaches set up a series of way over complicated drills that obviously wouldn't work, and didn't.

One took 15 minutes to set up and explain (with the kids just standing still) and was then abandoned after 2 minutes as none of them knew what the fuck they were meant to be doing. I'm very wary of saying anything, but it was an entirely wasted session when they learnt nothing.

Sounds like the coaching wasn't great on your coaches part. Kids standing still for that long is just insane, especially at u8s.

At the same time, what you saw that other team do, has likely come from a lot of drills and kids who are desperate to win, rather than focusing on having fun. I strongly suspect I could have produced something like that at u8s. But I'd have only had half a dozen kids left in the team.

Larger clubs can take advantage of picking up the most enthusiastic/determined/"professional" kids at any age. Which is fine, but their attitude to losing players from the bottom rungs, can be awful. A club we have a fair bit of interaction with, has 80 kids or so per age group, runs them in tiers rather than mixing abilities, and really doesn't care about the worst ones simply leaving the club (and that will also mean the sport), as they have a large waiting list to pick and choose from once they're gone.

U8s should be having a ton of fun, and quite simply, I'm highly suspicious of any team that sends a team that's seemingly as effective as the kids you're describing.

Good post. That's certainly the impression I got and the parents on the sideline, whilst not being in any way out of order, had a noticeably different attitude to other parents. We also suspected a few of them were at least a year older.

And just to add, agree with both that it's definitely possible to teach that - I had both my kids doing it in 5 minutes on the beach and translating it into the practice match on Sunday - but we also have quite a few kids with various difficulties and a strict non selection and rotation policy, so would never get it running that smoothly

Slick wrote: Mon Jun 03, 2024 8:58 am Had a fairly awful experience yesterday.

The boy was training with the p3's at the club and they were getting used to a bit of contact with tackle bags and doing Gladiator style drills. We got in the car to go home and he was very effusive about how much fun it was but he got a sore lip from getting hit with a bag. Then suddenly it was like a switch flicked and he started complaining about a headache, was feeling a bit dizzy, a bit sick and then just went quiet and started drifting off to sleep - this is incredibly unlike him.

Anyway, my immediate thought was concussion and I span the car round and headed to A&E. By the time we got there 10 minutes later I was struggling to keep him awake and total panic had set in - I couldn't remember his birthday or our address when we got there after carrying him in. We saw the triage nurse within 3 minutes and then into a doctors room with in 5 (shout out to the Scottish NHS who, again, were superb). Anyway, they did lots of cognitive tests and other checks before realising his temperature was really high! So, outcome was that he might have had a wee knock but it looks like just incredible timing that a nasty virus hit him at that time.... A load of Calpol and a restless night and he is a lot better today.

However, I hardly slept last night thinking about what could have been and it has really shaken me up. I know I sometimes talk him into playing when he doesn't really want to, and I don't know how much he really enjoys his rugby at the moment and how much he is doing it just to please me. I couldn't live with him getting hurt doing it but hating it. Also with Rob Burrows dying, it's made me think is this really a sport I should be involved with. I'm sure I'll calm down, but a really horrible 24 hours.

Tichtheid wrote: Mon Jun 03, 2024 9:46 am

Slick wrote: Mon Jun 03, 2024 8:58 am Had a fairly awful experience yesterday.

The boy was training with the p3's at the club and they were getting used to a bit of contact with tackle bags and doing Gladiator style drills. We got in the car to go home and he was very effusive about how much fun it was but he got a sore lip from getting hit with a bag. Then suddenly it was like a switch flicked and he started complaining about a headache, was feeling a bit dizzy, a bit sick and then just went quiet and started drifting off to sleep - this is incredibly unlike him.

Anyway, my immediate thought was concussion and I span the car round and headed to A&E. By the time we got there 10 minutes later I was struggling to keep him awake and total panic had set in - I couldn't remember his birthday or our address when we got there after carrying him in. We saw the triage nurse within 3 minutes and then into a doctors room with in 5 (shout out to the Scottish NHS who, again, were superb). Anyway, they did lots of cognitive tests and other checks before realising his temperature was really high! So, outcome was that he might have had a wee knock but it looks like just incredible timing that a nasty virus hit him at that time.... A load of Calpol and a restless night and he is a lot better today.

However, I hardly slept last night thinking about what could have been and it has really shaken me up. I know I sometimes talk him into playing when he doesn't really want to, and I don't know how much he really enjoys his rugby at the moment and how much he is doing it just to please me. I couldn't live with him getting hurt doing it but hating it. Also with Rob Burrows dying, it's made me think is this really a sport I should be involved with. I'm sure I'll calm down, but a really horrible 24 hours.

That must have been very scary, but I'm glad he is okay.

The smart gum shields seem to be an interesting development in the pro game, I think we should really take a long hard look at the idea that the sport must be the same all the way down from international level to the club game. I'd be in favour at looking at ways to protect players who do not have access to the latest technology and the only way to do that is through changing how the sport is played at the lower levels.

clydecloggie wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2024 8:31 am There's the overall framework from World Rugby, the Long Term Player Development (LTPD) model, briefly outlined at:

https://passport.world.rugby/injury-pre ... velopment/

Most Tier 1 unions have devleoped their own version, which combines generic skills development with specific elements that speak to that country's style of playing.

One of the best I've seen is on the Garryowen RFC website; very detailed and comprehensive:

https://garryowenrugby.com/wp-content/u ... ations.pdf

assfly wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2024 1:53 pm A quick update following the death of one of our U5 players.

We held a touch rugby tournament to mark the end of the season and in his honour. It was incredible; we had 26 teams registers and over 200 players from U5 to U18. The tournament was named after the boy who died. We even had an exhibition match at the end between the senior team and the bets, and I got play next to his dad. It will be an annual event going forward.

The family of the deceased boy were present, and got to make a small speech at the end to tell everyone about him.

Many beers were sunk well into the evening, and a few tears shed.

It was an incredible day, and the first time I've ever been involved in organising anything close to this. And I bloody loved every minute of it.

It was very moving and emotional, as after 3 months it felt like a proper send-off for the wee man.

Rugby might be just a game we all bicker about, but there are times like this it really shows how our magnificent game can be incredibly important to communities and families in time of need.

assfly wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2024 1:53 pm A quick update following the death of one of our U5 players.

We held a touch rugby tournament to mark the end of the season and in his honour. It was incredible; we had 26 teams registers and over 200 players from U5 to U18. The tournament was named after the boy who died. We even had an exhibition match at the end between the senior team and the bets, and I got play next to his dad. It will be an annual event going forward.

The family of the deceased boy were present, and got to make a small speech at the end to tell everyone about him.

Many beers were sunk well into the evening, and a few tears shed.

It was an incredible day, and the first time I've ever been involved in organising anything close to this. And I bloody loved every minute of it.

It was very moving and emotional, as after 3 months it felt like a proper send-off for the wee man.

Rugby might be just a game we all bicker about, but there are times like this it really shows how our magnificent game can be incredibly important to communities and families in time of need.

Slick wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2024 2:43 pm Completely agree about your last sentence. A good mate of mine died recently and about 800 turned up to his "Celebration of Life" event. Almost everyone was connected with rugby and almost the all the speeches and tributes were related to rugby. A sad day but made me very proud of the sport we all love.

assfly wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2024 5:44 am

Slick wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2024 2:43 pm Completely agree about your last sentence. A good mate of mine died recently and about 800 turned up to his "Celebration of Life" event. Almost everyone was connected with rugby and almost the all the speeches and tributes were related to rugby. A sad day but made me very proud of the sport we all love.

It's really amazing. I kind of disconnected since I stopped playing, but now my kids are involved I'm back in the community game and it's just incredible.

Raggs wrote: Thu Jul 25, 2024 12:31 pm Anyone got any tips on looking/gaining for good sponsors? We're trying to get some cash together, and it's a real struggle. Especially as we don't want (and can't afford!) to keep replacing match kit etc. On that point, which suppliers of kits do folks use, and do you have any recommendations/criticisms of anyone? Good prices are perhaps more of a premium than top quality. Finally anyone got experience with Palle for rugby balls? We've currently got a load of Lusum ones, not bad, but not super grippy, wonder what Palle ones are like.

Raggs wrote: Thu Jul 25, 2024 12:31 pm Anyone got any tips on looking/gaining for good sponsors? We're trying to get some cash together, and it's a real struggle. Especially as we don't want (and can't afford!) to keep replacing match kit etc.

assfly wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2024 6:20 am

Raggs wrote: Thu Jul 25, 2024 12:31 pm Anyone got any tips on looking/gaining for good sponsors? We're trying to get some cash together, and it's a real struggle. Especially as we don't want (and can't afford!) to keep replacing match kit etc.

I agree with Sinkers, first place to start would be the network of parents. You might just fine one which is willing to put some money forward as a passion project.

Otherwise, why not do something like a fundraiser. Tournament, pub quiz night, etc. Or get the kids to do their own fundraising by doing things like a sponsored run/walk, or try to do 100km in a month.

Slick wrote: Sun Sep 15, 2024 4:41 pm My son has decided it’s not for him at the moment (u9’s) but my daughter is absolutely loving it (u7’s) and I’ve been asked to join the coaching team. 3 weeks in and loving it so far