Adventures in kids coaching

[Slick]

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.

Well that was absolutely brilliant. We had 50 girls from U'6 - U'8's training then playing some games, then another 100 plus older girls having a tournament. My daughter absolutely loved it and GOT HER FIRST MEDAL, which has proudly gone to school with her this morning. I also awarded her her first try despite the ref claiming she was about 5m in touch...

[clydecloggie]

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]

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.

I'm still thankfully at the little boy raging stage. Though he's getting older faster and faster! Don't know where the time has gone to be honest.

[laurent]

Some Photos from our U18

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBgW3Y

[laurent]

More U18 Photos

The plan was to get the U14 too but that did not pan out

https://pixelfed.fr/p/desinterets/674887246193767475

and https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBhH3H

[Ovals]

Watched two of my Grand Daughters play today against Ringwood - at U14 and U16 - the former won failry comfortably but the latter got hammered. The eldest was really pissed off after the game - she had a decent game @6 and put in lots of strong tackles but the side was outclassed and outmuscled - she was not a happy bunny.

The younger one had a good game with some try assists and great tackling. There was one really massive girl on the opposing side - she was bigger than all the U16s - she was on the charge when my girl - who is quite slight, felled her like a tree with a textbook tackle - so impressive - I still find it hard to believe that she's so keen and courageous re Rugby - it just isn't in her nature at all. Very proud of her.

[Raggs]

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]

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.

[laurent]

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.

Yep it's same at all age groups really.
funny enough our U14 don't have one but they have a few athletic freaks that are making a huge difference (When we can get them a game as they have huge discipline issues).
it's so annoying as the kids individually are fine if you put them together they mutate in an unrully multi headed devil inspired mob.

[Raggs]

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.

Our "big" kid (not including the new one), was usually at least matched, if not smaller, than the big kid on most other teams we've played. In general height, we're nearly always shorter, and less "athletic". We try hard, but a few good athletes in a team can make such a huge difference at this age. In fairness, it never really stops making a difference into low level men's either. 1st team of the club I play for, has a player who's usually good for a try or two regardless of who we play.

[Slick]

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.

[Raggs]

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.

[clydecloggie]

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]

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.

You should absolutely try. But quite simply, I don't believe you can put out a truly mixed side where each u8 will remember to run onto the ball, time their run, catch the ball, pass the ball accurately and in front of the running player etc etc.

I could have made a team that could probably have pulled that off, but I still had kids who were busy looking at clouds for half the game at that age! They just wanted to be part of the event. Few years later, they're now still loving rugby, and actually some of the more focused ones.

I'm probably a bit sensitive to this though, since I do tend to believe in terms of athletic ability, I have a very weak squad overall compared to many of the teams I see. But they all love coming to training.

[Slick]

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

[Raggs]

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

If you're in England, I really doubt that the kids were over age (assuming it was a festival). Numbers are taken and kids have to be the right age. If they've been selecting their kids, it's easy enough to end up with ones that look older. Hell, we were at an u12s event a few weeks back and there was a full on man, shaving, taller than me, deep voice, could have easily passed for 16/17 or older. His dad had brought his passport along, as he knew it would be an issue. Laughed at one point, the kid was yelling at his team mates (with his voice occasionally breaking) to get in the scrum, and his dad yells at him that he's the biggest guy on the pitch and to get in it himself.

Also, teaching just a couple of kids to do something, almost one to one, is a lot easier than herding cats, even the coachable ones are harder because they're getting distracted by the others etc.

[Raggs]

Since there are a few fellow coaches etc here. We managed to host a pretty good festival (even if I do say so myself), mostly organised by the tour company, over the May bank holiday. The tour company handle accommodation etc, two days of matches etc.

If any of you potentially fancy a weekend away requiring a ferry trip, tour international is the company, Isle of Wight festival, bookings being taken from now I believe.