Adventures in kids coaching

[Raggs]

That's awesome, Raggs. Well done mate.

Our problem at the moment is too many kids, think we must have had over 40 on Sunday. The obvious solution is to split it into two separate sessions running concurrently but for some reason the main coaches don't want to do that.

The problem with splitting is it can be seen as streaming, which is frowned on (and rightly so). If you mix it up every week you're probably alright though.

I'm starting to struggle with things when we get 16+, can't imagine what it's like with 40. I love encouraging each one individually during/after a session, and just don't have the time already. Can't imagine how you're supposed to cope with 40!

Yes, it certainly wouldn't be streaming, just a random line down the middle each week.

That's the main problem for me, not being able to give encouragement or a little tap on the head to everyone. I think we had about 5 kids leave early because they got a bit bored or were feeling left out. I guess it's a good problem to have at the moment, but it's an issue long term if these kids don't want to go back to rugby because of earlier issues.

It's why I'm excited about getting more coaches. The more coaches, the easier it is to keep everyone involved.

[laurent]

Similar thing here thankfully having a PE teacher in the mix means we are going to get a lot of help (Students).

I am getting into the swing of things a bit so all good and the recruitment effort is apparently going well



And I manage our twitter account (YOutube too but the coaches don't want the videos to be public)

[Raggs]

I'm probably going to regret this, but has anyone had any luck with improving physicality with young'uns?

My u10s enjoy the game, but we don't get to play other sides very often, and when we do they seem to be nervous about tackling strangers (and even more stand offish).

I'm trying to improve their physicality in general, and looking for ideas on how to do it.

Last Sunday I had them wrestling on their knees (they had to pull the other to the ground to the side), hitting some tackle shields from the ground (driving over a ruck sort of thing), ripping a ball off each other, and a sumo type thing where they had to get their opponent out.

After doing those things, the physicality in the game we played a little after, did seem to be improved, but I'm interested in any more good games etc.

The sumo one I think helped the most, saw a few kids getting frustrated/angry then using that emotion to actually drive their opponents, rather than just sort of half heartedly push. The biggest/strongest kid won in the first group (I started with the smallest 2, then the winner stayed on), he went through everyone in his group. Then a point of pride, my boy (one of, if not the shortest) won against everyone in his group (once he'd gone through them all he got a break and they wrestled each other). The only issue with this game was too many spectators, but I did get them cheering which was nice. Can definitely increase the number of bouts for next week though, rather than splitting the groups.

Was thinking about trying a Kabaddi style game too.

[Punter15]

Loved doing it, hated the bloody parents though

It’s always thus, no matter what sport. There are three kinds;
- think their kid is a prodigy and can’t understand why they aren’t already an international
- are living vicariously through a kid that is lovely but uninterested
- is just a cunt who and wants their own way wherever they are and will snipe away behind your back if that doesn’t happen

I coached rugby and martial arts for years, and while the majority of kids and parents were brilliant, it was never ever plain sailing.

[Niegs]

Looks like I'm destined to be a youth coordinator for the rest of the year, helping a club stream line and improve their program from wee ones to teens. Looks like I'll also be asked to come up with plans to recruit / retain more volunteers and create more of a buzz through social media channels.

I'd LOVE to hear input from those of you who've either done this or simply act as a coach to a youth team! We've got a ton of ideas already, I'm bringing a big modern, researched, game-based mentality to the curriculum, but all of my experience is with teen and adult programs.

What do you consider essential? What isn't your club doing that you wish it was? We've pretty much a blank slate and I think the stronger we plan / cite evidence (whether official from countries with better developed systems or anecdotal from people at the coal face), the more buy-in we'll get.

[Raggs]

Looks like I'm destined to be a youth coordinator for the rest of the year, helping a club stream line and improve their program from wee ones to teens. Looks like I'll also be asked to come up with plans to recruit / retain more volunteers and create more of a buzz through social media channels.

I'd LOVE to hear input from those of you who've either done this or simply act as a coach to a youth team! We've got a ton of ideas already, I'm bringing a big modern, researched, game-based mentality to the curriculum, but all of my experience is with teen and adult programs.

What do you consider essential? What isn't your club doing that you wish it was? We've pretty much a blank slate and I think the stronger we plan / cite evidence (whether official from countries with better developed systems or anecdotal from people at the coal face), the more buy-in we'll get.

My opinion only, which is uneducated.

More coaches = more better. They don't have to be qualified etc if they're willing to do some online courses. Just extra eyes helps.

Get a handbook together to hand out to new volunteers. We sort of have one now, but I'd have loved one to start with! Even jsut with a few simply game ideas for the different ages, and what you can expect from each age.

It's meant to be fun. If the kids are just doing drills and aren't laughing/smiling, you need to tweak it a bit.

On that note, as I explained to a dad, I'm not trying to train internationals, I'm not even trying to train pros, I'm trying to train kids that'll want to keep playing rugby when they're 22+ years old.

Recently found the Munster Mini Manual, (search for that you should find it), it looks really good. I've not read through it completely, but if someone handed me that (or similar) when i started, that would have been awesome!

[Rhubarb & Custard]

I'm trying to improve their physicality in general, and looking for ideas on how to do it.

I'll have noted before it's not simply a contact thing because they'd happily clatter into their dads in the main. That said to improve them about the biggest single step I've found is to have the two teams come together after the game and have a chat about what they found good/difficult. Can be a bit of a pain when bored parents simply want to run away asap once a game is over, but given there are two confidence issues, hurting themselves and hurting their opponents it's proved really useful in the past to get them some direct feedback from the people they were worried about, it seems to alleviate some concerns and introduce some healthy competition based on a small sample size

[Punter15]

I'm trying to improve their physicality in general, and looking for ideas on how to do it.

I'll have noted before it's not simply a contact thing because they'd happily clatter into their dads in the main. That said to improve them about the biggest single step I've found is to have the two teams come together after the game and have a chat about what they found good/difficult. Can be a bit of a pain when bored parents simply want to run away asap once a game is over, but given there are two confidence issues, hurting themselves and hurting their opponents it's proved really useful in the past to get them some direct feedback from the people they were worried about, it seems to alleviate some concerns and introduce some healthy competition based on a small sample size

This is great advice.
I’d also suggest that the stronger the team spirit that you can cultivate, the more they will get stuck in so as not to let their mates down. That doesn’t mean creating a hard man culture by the way, just one of togetherness.

[Niegs]

Cheers for that, @Raggs! I thought I'd raid some sources, but didn't expect to find one so insightful as that Munster one. Some bold reminders of what's typical of kids at certain ages is something to think about, for sure.

I'm with you on numbers, and it's seemingly a focus of this club. "We have lots of ex-players with their kids participating and we'd like to bring them into the fold, or anyone who wants to help their kid, for that matter, regardless of experience." So my thinking is how can I make this dead-easy for them? I've been thinking what's the easiest way... tabbed pdf? I don't have app dev skills, maybe someone in the club does? (Or maybe that's a crazy idea that'd take too much work?) A printed one in a ring binder might be preferable to some oldies, but maybe with a QR code linking to a video of activities in action (demonstrated by club players)?

They also want to get teens involved as well, which I'm fully behind, hoping to both strength ties and game knowledge through having them coach / ref just a couple of bands below.

I posted this to Kids First Rugby group on fb and so many said "Don't forget hot dogs!" So true! I went to their session on Sunday and was a bit surprised not to see food. I remember when I was in England coaches had to shoo kids away from the tuck shop until training / games were over. (I may have dropped some coinage for a Curly Wurly myself! )

[Niegs]

I'm trying to improve their physicality in general, and looking for ideas on how to do it.

I'll have noted before it's not simply a contact thing because they'd happily clatter into their dads in the main. That said to improve them about the biggest single step I've found is to have the two teams come together after the game and have a chat about what they found good/difficult. Can be a bit of a pain when bored parents simply want to run away asap once a game is over, but given there are two confidence issues, hurting themselves and hurting their opponents it's proved really useful in the past to get them some direct feedback from the people they were worried about, it seems to alleviate some concerns and introduce some healthy competition based on a small sample size

This is great advice.
I’d also suggest that the stronger the team spirit that you can cultivate, the more they will get stuck in so as not to let their mates down. That doesn’t mean creating a hard man culture by the way, just one of togetherness.

There's an coach/teacher developer called Mark Bennett who has some great stuff in helping coaches help kids self-organize.

[clydecloggie]

I'm trying to improve their physicality in general, and looking for ideas on how to do it.

I'll have noted before it's not simply a contact thing because they'd happily clatter into their dads in the main. That said to improve them about the biggest single step I've found is to have the two teams come together after the game and have a chat about what they found good/difficult. Can be a bit of a pain when bored parents simply want to run away asap once a game is over, but given there are two confidence issues, hurting themselves and hurting their opponents it's proved really useful in the past to get them some direct feedback from the people they were worried about, it seems to alleviate some concerns and introduce some healthy competition based on a small sample size

This is great advice.
I’d also suggest that the stronger the team spirit that you can cultivate, the more they will get stuck in so as not to let their mates down. That doesn’t mean creating a hard man culture by the way, just one of togetherness.

You mentioned kabbadi in the OP - I find that works really well. I've done it this year guest coaching our U12 and U14 and also with my own U18 teams and they absolutely love it.

Another one I think I came up with myself is to play a tackle game with say 7 players who all have their own small try line, marked with cones. The try lines together make a circle with roughly a 15m diameter. At the start, players are on their own try line. In the centre of the circle are 5 balls (2 less than the number of players). 4 balls are the same, 1 ball is different. All players start with 3 points. At the whistle, all players aim to score a try on their own try line. If you do that, you keep your points. If you tackle a ball carrier, before they can score, gain 1 point, ball carrier loses 1 point. If you score with the 1 odd ball, gain 1 point, if you tackle the odd ball carrier, gain 2 points, ball carrier loses 2 points. If you don't score or tackle, lose 1 point. You're eliminated on 0 points, and it's essentially last player standing. Quite chaotic, and involves lots of decision making but my U18 squad loves it. Wouldn't recommend with younger players probably - stick to the kabbadi.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

I'm trying to improve their physicality in general, and looking for ideas on how to do it.

I'll have noted before it's not simply a contact thing because they'd happily clatter into their dads in the main. That said to improve them about the biggest single step I've found is to have the two teams come together after the game and have a chat about what they found good/difficult. Can be a bit of a pain when bored parents simply want to run away asap once a game is over, but given there are two confidence issues, hurting themselves and hurting their opponents it's proved really useful in the past to get them some direct feedback from the people they were worried about, it seems to alleviate some concerns and introduce some healthy competition based on a small sample size

This is great advice.
I’d also suggest that the stronger the team spirit that you can cultivate, the more they will get stuck in so as not to let their mates down. That doesn’t mean creating a hard man culture by the way, just one of togetherness.

Never really found it was useful in engendering more respect for the opposition, more's the pity though again it was a small sample size, but it has also improved (in some instances) performances for those not worried so much about contact but making mistakes in games. I'm guessing when the feedback/chats are informal between peers it removes some of the trepidation

I also happen to think it's a useful communications exercise to give/receive feedback to/from peers even putting the rugby aside

[Slick]

I'll have noted before it's not simply a contact thing because they'd happily clatter into their dads in the main. That said to improve them about the biggest single step I've found is to have the two teams come together after the game and have a chat about what they found good/difficult. Can be a bit of a pain when bored parents simply want to run away asap once a game is over, but given there are two confidence issues, hurting themselves and hurting their opponents it's proved really useful in the past to get them some direct feedback from the people they were worried about, it seems to alleviate some concerns and introduce some healthy competition based on a small sample size

This is great advice.
I’d also suggest that the stronger the team spirit that you can cultivate, the more they will get stuck in so as not to let their mates down. That doesn’t mean creating a hard man culture by the way, just one of togetherness.

You mentioned kabbadi in the OP - I find that works really well. I've done it this year guest coaching our U12 and U14 and also with my own U18 teams and they absolutely love it.

Another one I think I came up with myself is to play a tackle game with say 7 players who all have their own small try line, marked with cones. The try lines together make a circle with roughly a 15m diameter. At the start, players are on their own try line. In the centre of the circle are 5 balls (2 less than the number of players). 4 balls are the same, 1 ball is different. All players start with 3 points. At the whistle, all players aim to score a try on their own try line. If you do that, you keep your points. If you tackle a ball carrier, before they can score, gain 1 point, ball carrier loses 1 point. If you score with the 1 odd ball, gain 1 point, if you tackle the odd ball carrier, gain 2 points, ball carrier loses 2 points. If you don't score or tackle, lose 1 point. You're eliminated on 0 points, and it's essentially last player standing. Quite chaotic, and involves lots of decision making but my U18 squad loves it. Wouldn't recommend with younger players probably - stick to the kabbadi.

That sounds like a fantastic new sport!!

[Raggs]

So had a festival today. First time my lot have played another team with contact, against teams that have most likely had at least some experience of it for over a season. Plus I don't know what's going on with the breeding pools, but apparently our lot haven't been eating right, since I only saw perhaps one other player as small as our smaller ones (and we've got 3 of them), with most of the kids I refer to as our bigger ones, being only average for the teams we played against!

First game was a little embarrassing to be honest. It almost looked like they were waving as the other team ran past :(. By the 3rd game though things were improving, but to give an idea, that was the game we scored our first try in, and didn't score any more in that game either.

However, by the fifth and final game, despite probably playing against the biggest side we'd come up against (and a few high/early shots from them), basically all of them had started putting in their tackles, and running with a bit more purpose themselves, I'd perhaps even go so far as to suggest (despite no one keeping score) we may have even "won" that one.

So after that, and everyone having a good time, it was extremely nice to receive this message on the group chat (slightly paraphrased).

"My son absolutely loved it! Thank you. He told me Raggs was really encouraging and didn't get cross when they lost. And that my son felt you just wanted them all to enjoy themselves and play their best."

Absolutely dead chuffed to get that message. I couldn't give a rat's bum about winning/losing, I really do just want them to try their best and have fun, and to know that at least one kid gets that, makes me really happy.

So there's my proud coach moment :D. Proud dad moment was my son, as probably the smallest, was one of the main tacklers on those big lumps.

I know I'm quoting myself, but we've just had the final festival of the season. The development has been night and day. Still have a few hesitant tacklers, but we gave a great account of ourselves every game. Had a few new players join who've raised the level a bit too, which is handy.

Next season hoping to bring in a bit more tactical/handling stuff, since so much of this season has been dedicated to trying to get them tackling/rucking/mauling/ripping/scrumming.

[Jb1981]

I’m not coaching but my 10 year old had his first pre-season game on Saturday. The surprise of the day was no weight restrictions in the region the opposition was from so they were playing some big units - like more than double the size of some of our players.

It was a heavy loss but everyone kept at it all game and we scored a couple of tries and should be well set for the more weight matched games. It’s noticeable just the one year older that structure and positions are more understood rather than younger kid bunching.

[Raggs]

I’m not coaching but my 10 year old had his first pre-season game on Saturday. The surprise of the day was no weight restrictions in the region the opposition was from so they were playing some big units - like more than double the size of some of our players.

It was a heavy loss but everyone kept at it all game and we scored a couple of tries and should be well set for the more weight matched games. It’s noticeable just the one year older that structure and positions are more understood rather than younger kid bunching.

Although not that bad, we often seem to be on the smaller side in most the matches we play. It can be tough, but we're not doing too bad for it. It's nice to have a few heavier carriers of course, but they'll adapt. If we streamed the kids, and actually just took our single best team to the festival, I'm pretty confident we'd have won basically every game. But then given the fact that other teams were probably mixed too, that doesn't mean much.

[Sinkers]

I'll have noted before it's not simply a contact thing because they'd happily clatter into their dads in the main. That said to improve them about the biggest single step I've found is to have the two teams come together after the game and have a chat about what they found good/difficult. Can be a bit of a pain when bored parents simply want to run away asap once a game is over, but given there are two confidence issues, hurting themselves and hurting their opponents it's proved really useful in the past to get them some direct feedback from the people they were worried about, it seems to alleviate some concerns and introduce some healthy competition based on a small sample size

This is great advice.
I’d also suggest that the stronger the team spirit that you can cultivate, the more they will get stuck in so as not to let their mates down. That doesn’t mean creating a hard man culture by the way, just one of togetherness.

You mentioned kabbadi in the OP - I find that works really well. I've done it this year guest coaching our U12 and U14 and also with my own U18 teams and they absolutely love it.

Another one I think I came up with myself is to play a tackle game with say 7 players who all have their own small try line, marked with cones. The try lines together make a circle with roughly a 15m diameter. At the start, players are on their own try line. In the centre of the circle are 5 balls (2 less than the number of players). 4 balls are the same, 1 ball is different. All players start with 3 points. At the whistle, all players aim to score a try on their own try line. If you do that, you keep your points. If you tackle a ball carrier, before they can score, gain 1 point, ball carrier loses 1 point. If you score with the 1 odd ball, gain 1 point, if you tackle the odd ball carrier, gain 2 points, ball carrier loses 2 points. If you don't score or tackle, lose 1 point. You're eliminated on 0 points, and it's essentially last player standing. Quite chaotic, and involves lots of decision making but my U18 squad loves it. Wouldn't recommend with younger players probably - stick to the kabbadi.

I've been using that game as part of the warm up every week since reading this!!!
It seems to work ok for my U9 and U11 as it's pretty adaptable and easy to simplify for the youngsters - each kid on a cone, score on the cone, start at zero points and 1 point for a try, and 1 point for a tackle. Most points out of 5 runs, adapt the distance balls to cone etc etc. Kids seem to love it and it fits well with our current emphasis on the tackle for the U9s

Some of the thoughts about increasing number of coaches - very beneficial for small number drills and skills obviously, but I find you can get a lot of voices from the sideline once you're in a larger numbers game situation or even contradictory methods/ messages if you've got a couple of coaches running the same drill.
Just a case of having a bit of a plan and getting everybody on the same page about what you're trying to develop, encourage, imbed for that session/term/season.

After 2+ years of restrictions we're back into larger groups and actually able to run game type situations and getting ready for our first 7s tournament. Would usually be 10s but we still have some minor covid restrictions in place. Still well excited tho!!!!!

[clydecloggie]

This is great advice.
I’d also suggest that the stronger the team spirit that you can cultivate, the more they will get stuck in so as not to let their mates down. That doesn’t mean creating a hard man culture by the way, just one of togetherness.

You mentioned kabbadi in the OP - I find that works really well. I've done it this year guest coaching our U12 and U14 and also with my own U18 teams and they absolutely love it.

Another one I think I came up with myself is to play a tackle game with say 7 players who all have their own small try line, marked with cones. The try lines together make a circle with roughly a 15m diameter. At the start, players are on their own try line. In the centre of the circle are 5 balls (2 less than the number of players). 4 balls are the same, 1 ball is different. All players start with 3 points. At the whistle, all players aim to score a try on their own try line. If you do that, you keep your points. If you tackle a ball carrier, before they can score, gain 1 point, ball carrier loses 1 point. If you score with the 1 odd ball, gain 1 point, if you tackle the odd ball carrier, gain 2 points, ball carrier loses 2 points. If you don't score or tackle, lose 1 point. You're eliminated on 0 points, and it's essentially last player standing. Quite chaotic, and involves lots of decision making but my U18 squad loves it. Wouldn't recommend with younger players probably - stick to the kabbadi.

I've been using that game as part of the warm up every week since reading this!!!
It seems to work ok for my U9 and U11 as it's pretty adaptable and easy to simplify for the youngsters - each kid on a cone, score on the cone, start at zero points and 1 point for a try, and 1 point for a tackle. Most points out of 5 runs, adapt the distance balls to cone etc etc. Kids seem to love it and it fits well with our current emphasis on the tackle for the U9s

Some of the thoughts about increasing number of coaches - very beneficial for small number drills and skills obviously, but I find you can get a lot of voices from the sideline once you're in a larger numbers game situation or even contradictory methods/ messages if you've got a couple of coaches running the same drill.
Just a case of having a bit of a plan and getting everybody on the same page about what you're trying to develop, encourage, imbed for that session/term/season.

After 2+ years of restrictions we're back into larger groups and actually able to run game type situations and getting ready for our first 7s tournament. Would usually be 10s but we still have some minor covid restrictions in place. Still well excited tho!!!!!

That's fantastic!

And yeah, more coaches can be a bit of a double-edged sword. It really needs everyone to buy into the same vision and mentality. It's amazing how different people can think about even basic things such as key factors in catch/pass and tackle. And there's always the one guy who thinks the game's gone soft and there's nothing wrong with teaching young kids an 'intimidating' tackle technique.

On match days we always assign 'talking duties' to one coach (not necessarily the same one each week). So any input from others for pre- /post- and half-time talks goes to the talking coach who then speaks to the team. Otherwise it gets messy, contradictory and distracting.

[Slick]

Our last session of the season on Sunday with all the dads helping out. By my reckoning we had about 200 hundred worth of Scotland caps coaching the 5 year olds

[inactionman]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

[Slick]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

My lad started P1 rugby at Accies this season from rugbytots but plenty stayed there - mainly parents who haven't been involved with a rugby club before I would say.

It really doesn't make a difference to be honest, they are still just out for a run around really.

[inactionman]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

My lad started P1 rugby at Accies this season from rugbytots but plenty stayed there - mainly parents who haven't been involved with a rugby club before I would say.

It really doesn't make a difference to be honest, they are still just out for a run around really.

One key difference - the rugby club generally has a bar.

I'm being facetious, they're not drinking yet.

I'm keen to get them into a club as they've got precious little idea of 'team' at the minute, and to be frank I could do with the social aspect - looking after little'uns can be a bit isolating. There's not much about kid's rugby on the website of our local (Liberton RFC) but will keep eyes open. As chance has it we'll be there tomorrow to vote, so might take a gander.

[Slick]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

My lad started P1 rugby at Accies this season from rugbytots but plenty stayed there - mainly parents who haven't been involved with a rugby club before I would say.

It really doesn't make a difference to be honest, they are still just out for a run around really.

One key difference - the rugby club generally has a bar.

I'm being facetious, they're not drinking yet.

I'm keen to get them into a club as they've got precious little idea of 'team' at the minute, and to be frank I could do with the social aspect - looking after little'uns can be a bit isolating. There's not much about kid's rugby on the website of our local (Liberton RFC) but will keep eyes open. As chance has it we'll be there tomorrow to vote, so might take a gander.

Exactly the reason I joined the club, to get into the social side. The only drawback at Accies is that a lot of the kids know each other from school (and the parents) so it’s like starting again every week. Also, £100 for 6 months of training is superb value!

[Niegs]

Any good resources with things to do with the u8s? I’m assuming it’s a lot of short stints, moving in various ways. One of our coaches loves doing relays for 40 mins or more. Would like to know more about best practices for this age group that’s as ‘rugby’ as possible.

[Raggs]

Any good resources with things to do with the u8s? I’m assuming it’s a lot of short stints, moving in various ways. One of our coaches loves doing relays for 40 mins or more. Would like to know more about best practices for this age group that’s as ‘rugby’ as possible.

Has some exercises in it, but I found this in general to be fantastic for setting realistic expectations about what the children should be doing (i.e. don't expect flowing backs moves and passing into space on purpose from u10s)

https://www.munsterrugby.ie/domestic/co ... ni-manual/

[Niegs]

Any good resources with things to do with the u8s? I’m assuming it’s a lot of short stints, moving in various ways. One of our coaches loves doing relays for 40 mins or more. Would like to know more about best practices for this age group that’s as ‘rugby’ as possible.

Has some exercises in it, but I found this in general to be fantastic for setting realistic expectations about what the children should be doing (i.e. don't expect flowing backs moves and passing into space on purpose from u10s)

https://www.munsterrugby.ie/domestic/co ... ni-manual/

Cheers for that. I really like the expectations bit. I'll have a look around at other unions to see what resources they have. I'm currently reading PE curricula to see what I can adapt. I want coaches to have a rich bank of things they can draw from.

Yeah, I've only ever coached U13s and up, so have been doing a lot of observation ahead of my youth coordinator role. Herding the U7s and U9s into doing the same thing seems to be the biggest challenge/victory. :)

[Brazil]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

I took my eldest to the local rugby (league) club in reception, though it's rare that teams will take them that young, and most start in Year 1 from what I can see. He's got his first tournament this weekend, and is treating it like a Lions series...

Does anybody have tips on how to teach kids to hold a defensive line rather than congregate around the ball carrier? I accept it's the holy grail of minis coaching...

[MungoMan]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

I took my eldest to the local rugby (league) club in reception, though it's rare that teams will take them that young…

Am I simply ignorant of a UK childhood education term here or has your spellchecker muddied the waters?

[Dinsdale Piranha]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

I took my eldest to the local rugby (league) club in reception, though it's rare that teams will take them that young…

Am I simply ignorant of a UK childhood education term here or has your spellchecker muddied the waters?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_(school)

[Slick]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

I took my eldest to the local rugby (league) club in reception, though it's rare that teams will take them that young…

Am I simply ignorant of a UK childhood education term here or has your spellchecker muddied the waters?

Him and his family are terribly posh

[Niegs]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

I took my eldest to the local rugby (league) club in reception, though it's rare that teams will take them that young, and most start in Year 1 from what I can see. He's got his first tournament this weekend, and is treating it like a Lions series...

Does anybody have tips on how to teach kids to hold a defensive line rather than congregate around the ball carrier? I accept it's the holy grail of minis coaching...

I'm just getting into this and, as you suggest, reckon it's probably near-on impossible.

On one hand, you could have them focus on marking an opposing player, but on the other hand, it seems like the attacking side are often in a clump too!

That Munster manual posted above even suggests that there are some very common traits at each developmental stage (kids from U10 down never seem to pass until they're wrapped up or told to). I see that Canada are recommending 4v4 at U8, likely because that ensures maximum involvement given the 'selfishness' of players and congested space (running sideways to avoid the clump).

[Raggs]

Quick question - when did you parents graduate your kids up from rugbytots to a rugby club?

Not sure when we should be planning it, and not sure what pathway generally is.

I took my eldest to the local rugby (league) club in reception, though it's rare that teams will take them that young, and most start in Year 1 from what I can see. He's got his first tournament this weekend, and is treating it like a Lions series...

Does anybody have tips on how to teach kids to hold a defensive line rather than congregate around the ball carrier? I accept it's the holy grail of minis coaching...

I'm just getting into this and, as you suggest, reckon it's probably near-on impossible.

On one hand, you could have them focus on marking an opposing player, but on the other hand, it seems like the attacking side are often in a clump too!

That Munster manual posted above even suggests that there are some very common traits at each developmental stage (kids from U10 down never seem to pass until they're wrapped up or told to). I see that Canada are recommending 4v4 at U8, likely because that ensures maximum involvement given the 'selfishness' of players and congested space (running sideways to avoid the clump).

The manual is very good. With my u10s, there were a few who could recognise that the team was clumping in defence, and tried to solve it a bit, but the vast majority never even paid attention to it. Their focus on the ball and the player with the ball is so absolute, not much else happens.

Some of them instinctively dropped back, ready to try and catch the player who made the break, regardless of how many times I tried to explain to them that by dropping back, they are creating that break in the first place because of the extra space.

[Jb1981]

My daughter played her first game of rippa rugby on Friday. She did really well getting a lot of rips but only got to run the ball twice (scoring a try) thanks to the boys in the team not passing to any of the three girls - and not being encouraged to by the coach . She loved it and said that getting rips is her favourite thing so thankfully it didn’t put her off. It’s her first foray into sport after dodging it the last couple of years, I suspect not wanting to be compared to her sports mad older brother.

[Sinkers]

My daughter played her first game of rippa rugby on Friday. She did really well getting a lot of rips but only got to run the ball twice (scoring a try) thanks to the boys in the team not passing to any of the three girls - and not being encouraged to by the coach . She loved it and said that getting rips is her favourite thing so thankfully it didn’t put her off. It’s her first foray into sport after dodging it the last couple of years, I suspect not wanting to be compared to her sports mad older brother.

I know it’s a cliche but girls really are more coachable than boys of a similar age.
We’ve got three absolute stars in one of the age groups I help with and their brilliant to coach and watch play.
I hope she carries on and loves it!!

[Sinkers]

I took my eldest to the local rugby (league) club in reception, though it's rare that teams will take them that young, and most start in Year 1 from what I can see. He's got his first tournament this weekend, and is treating it like a Lions series...

Does anybody have tips on how to teach kids to hold a defensive line rather than congregate around the ball carrier? I accept it's the holy grail of minis coaching...

I'm just getting into this and, as you suggest, reckon it's probably near-on impossible.

On one hand, you could have them focus on marking an opposing player, but on the other hand, it seems like the attacking side are often in a clump too!

That Munster manual posted above even suggests that there are some very common traits at each developmental stage (kids from U10 down never seem to pass until they're wrapped up or told to). I see that Canada are recommending 4v4 at U8, likely because that ensures maximum involvement given the 'selfishness' of players and congested space (running sideways to avoid the clump).

The manual is very good. With my u10s, there were a few who could recognise that the team was clumping in defence, and tried to solve it a bit, but the vast majority never even paid attention to it. Their focus on the ball and the player with the ball is so absolute, not much else happens.

Some of them instinctively dropped back, ready to try and catch the player who made the break, regardless of how many times I tried to explain to them that by dropping back, they are creating that break in the first place because of the extra space.

Was thinking about this at the weekend while watching our U11 who know how to set a line but you can see them get sucked towards the ball like it’s a black hole.

I’m thinking half of the issue is getting the ball away from the breakdown in anything under an age as much as it is coaching the kids to set their line.
There’s a whole lot that goes into that obviously.

[Raggs]

Although I'm now reasonably identifiably I'm going to bitch here anyway, since I don't think anyone here is even close to connected to anyone involved.

We have a unique situation where we have three senior sides with no youth structure, and one youth side with no senior structure. The youths train across all 3 sites with the academy at a neutral school ground. We've tried to set it up so that the 18 year olds get to train at each club and see which they prefer etc. Whilst keeping it reasonably non partisan as they come through the ages. Given our location, a huge number of these kids go off to university and life, and never come back, we don't have massive intakes of youths every season etc, just sometimes get guys coming back after years etc.

This was brought in because the three clubs simply couldn't generate the numbers on their own. We now usual have sufficient numbers for a full team in all contact age groups, with some doing a little better, some a little worse, but we can go to festivals etc, take part in the leagues for the older ages etc.

One of the clubs (arguably the worst), has just announced they're pulling out, and starting their own youth program for their local community, citing the increasing numbers and increased participation in schools etc. Whilst it came as a bit of a surprise, there wasn't a shock, across the whole of the last season it's felt like they didn't really want us there anymore (according to the coaches of those age groups that train there), making it awkward for us to train by saying the pitches needed to be preserved etc, in one situation preserved for 2 weeks in the leadup to a "football" tournament. That turned out to be a youth rugby tournament of visiting teams to which we weren't invited (and obviously kept ignorant of). It's rather suspected this decision was made in the last week or two so to speak...

Now in my mind it can go one of three ways.

They fail, have to say, given the rumours flying in at the moment, this isn't looking unlikely! Especially since to my knowledge they have no active coaches in the majority of the youth ages (none to my knowledge up to u12s, and none in the academy), I don't believe there's that many in others either. All senior sides were invited to supply coaches (basically players, no need for qualifications if you don't have them!) for the academy, the other two clubs supply some each, the ones from this club just stopped after the first couple of weeks. I don't think anyone is going to want to train with just 2-3 children each Sunday morning.

They split the base and don't generate more. This is the worst case scenario, now neither youth club has enough to regularly take part in festivals

They generate sufficient new numbers to actually run their own youth structure, supplying sufficient coaches etc to pull it off. This would be good in terms of then having a team to play against that doesn't require taking a whole day up basically. However, the question would have to be raised as to why the hell didn't they help out the main youth structure earlier and generate those numbers/coaches before...

[laurent]

We had a great starting week end with the kids this Saturday and Sunday.



Great stuff we have reijgged our association for the older kids (U16 U18) our previous "friends" were only interested in poaching the kids...
We are now with another small club (without a senior side) that we have a proper agreement with.
They are hoping to build to set up a social senior side while we are basically trying to keep the U16 U18 in the club so that the go feed the senior side.

Basically our aims are similar and neither clubs have the means to rip the other off.

Now the scary thing is both our clubs have a reputation as both towns are full of disadvantaged kids/families.
From their behaviour they bark worse than they bite...
The Girls U16 are going to be scaring the other team even more when they see them (some really big girls talented and fearless).
The aim with them is to get them to play 15 (they will play 10 aside this year). This means National level :D

[Slick]

Took my boy (6) to the new local club but couldn't even get him to join in for a few minutes, just clung to me and said he didn't like it. Had a little chat in the car before realising I was letting my frustration get the better of me and not being fair on him, so packed up and went home. Think I'm just going to have to let him decide in his own time - I'm fine about that, just a bit disappointed about missing out on the social bit myself in a new area.

[Raggs]

Took my boy (6) to the new local club but couldn't even get him to join in for a few minutes, just clung to me and said he didn't like it. Had a little chat in the car before realising I was letting my frustration get the better of me and not being fair on him, so packed up and went home. Think I'm just going to have to let him decide in his own time - I'm fine about that, just a bit disappointed about missing out on the social bit myself in a new area.

Maybe take him again, take a ball along, and just chuck it between yourselves whilst watching the others play. No pressure on him getting involved, by him a bacon roll at the end. If he sees a group of peers having fun with a game, suggest he gets involved (explain to coaches of course).

And yes, being careful with our own frustrations is very important.

[Slick]

Took my boy (6) to the new local club but couldn't even get him to join in for a few minutes, just clung to me and said he didn't like it. Had a little chat in the car before realising I was letting my frustration get the better of me and not being fair on him, so packed up and went home. Think I'm just going to have to let him decide in his own time - I'm fine about that, just a bit disappointed about missing out on the social bit myself in a new area.

Maybe take him again, take a ball along, and just chuck it between yourselves whilst watching the others play. No pressure on him getting involved, by him a bacon roll at the end. If he sees a group of peers having fun with a game, suggest he gets involved (explain to coaches of course).

And yes, being careful with our own frustrations is very important.

I joined in for a while but he wasn't interested. It has been a really tough few weeks for him moving schools and away from his first mates etc so I think i'll just leave it for a while. Hoping once he makes some new mates at school they might be involved.

Nice idea about the bacon roll though, I basically led him up a Munro last week with the promise of a Snickers at the top