Kids rugby and coaches

[ourla]

Just wondered what peoples experiences are in terms of whether coaches start with their children and move with them through the age groups? Or whether the coaches stay in the same age group and the kids move onto the next coach or coaches? Or a mixture of both? Or does it end at a certain age? I know there are no rules on this but wondered what "tends" to happen. I have boy playing under 9s not in Leicestershire. It's slightly unusual as the kids rugby has seen massive growth so there are a lot new coaches at the lower age group level. Just of curiousity I was wondering how it might pan out coaching wise in the longer term.

[northerntiger]

At my club (in Warwickshire) coaches move up with the age groups, and this is the case with every club we have played. Given that coaches generally coach their own children's age groups, I would imagine this is always the case.

[Tiger_in_Birmingham]

At my club (in Warwickshire) coaches move up with the age groups, and this is the case with every club we have played. Given that coaches generally coach their own children's age groups, I would imagine this is always the case.

We had a mix - we generally were given the same coach for 3 years but then they went back to the 'beginning' of their age group cycle.

Also as we moved up through the age groups we had more coaches/senior players/colts join us for odd sessions here and there to work on specific aspects of the game

[DickyP]

As an outsider looking in I'm fascinated by this. In the "good-old-days" it just wasn't a problem/topic that figured: kids played their rugby at school and school games were on Saturday afternoons (with a few mid-week - Wednesday afternoons - as well) so the query would not have been relevant.

Do kids still play rugby at school? If so do they also play for club age-group teams as well? Do two systems run in parallel?

[youngtiger]

As an outsider looking in I'm fascinated by this. In the "good-old-days" it just wasn't a problem/topic that figured: kids played their rugby at school and school games were on Saturday afternoons (with a few mid-week - Wednesday afternoons - as well) so the query would not have been relevant.

Do kids still play rugby at school? If so do they also play for club age-group teams as well? Do two systems run in parallel?

In answer to your questions, yes and yes and pretty much yeah. The situation you described at school rugby was the same as mine- matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays, training Monday night and Friday lunch. Club games on Sundays, training Tuesdays.

[northerntiger]

Depending on the school you go to. Private or Grammar - situation as above. Most comprehensives no rugby at all. The amount of talent being squandered by having virtually no rugby presence in the majority of English schools is appalling

[LE18]

My Grandson goes to Oakham School, he has a new rugby coach each year, but they only play up to Christmas, then its hockey.

At his rugby club, Market Harborough, his coaches move with him year on year, they are usually past players whose children have taken up the game and they start out coaching them throughout their junior days.

[AidanMcDowell]

At my son's club the coaches stay with the team right through to colts rugby (at about 17 I think) when full time club coaches take the team on. It may seem rough justice on the willing volunteers who have often been with those boys since the age of 6 but sometimes the boys need fresh input and thinking to take them on to the next level.

[jgriffin]

Depending on the school you go to. Private or Grammar - situation as above. Most comprehensives no rugby at all. The amount of talent being squandered by having virtually no rugby presence in the majority of English schools is appalling

Absolutely so. Have witnessed great talent sidelined, usually because they didn't have Mr Jones from the local independent school on the selection panel.

[DickyP]

My Grandson goes to Oakham School, he has a new rugby coach each year, but they only play up to Christmas, then its hockey....

Must admit this is exactly what we did some 47 years ago (seemed to be the norm for grammar school such as mine in those days) - indeed I played against Oakham both at Rugby and Hockey!

Can't help feeling that part of the problem is that 1) only PT staff now do 'games' which was then (for my school 2 afternoons a week in the 60s) a separate thing from PT (which was just gymnasium work); and 2) the predominance of mixed, rather than single-sex schools, means an understandable narrowing of ambition to match available resources.

Conversely in the 60s virtually no-one ever played rugby at all before going to secondary school.

[northerntiger]

Worse than that, most schools do not do games any more, just PE which is a rolling programme of different sports each term. No real competitive sport. What there is is done after school as a club. Almost exclusively football. Apart from the Natwest cup (ex Daily Mail) there are no competitions to enter and no fixtures between schools. Contrast this with football, which has a plethora of local competitions. Therefore almost all good sportsmen at comprehensive schools play football and get no exposure to competitive rugby.

[ourla]

Cheers folks. I think I'd like to see experienced coaches taking them once they get to a certain stage. Though I'm not 100% sure what that stage is. At the moment it's OK. I've helped out myself though I have experience of coaching another sport so setting up and working a drill is second nature to me. I did a rugby ready course so know how to teach tackle and early scrum stage. But I've never played the game to any great level, neither have some of the other dads. Some have though and if they stay or get more involved things should be fine. But I just wondered if all clubs operated in pretty much that way.

[Latecomer]

I think it depends on the coach. At our club in Leicestershire we sit down at the start of the season and see what each coach wants to do. Some are happy to stay with the same age group year in year out, others like to change every few years. Other than the head coaches a lot of the parents who help out with coaching once they've been CRB checked and done Rugby Ready like to move up with their son/daughters group. This mix seems to work very well at our club.

[kend]

In my experience, coaches tend to be dads and move up through the age grades with their children. There are a few exemplars out there who use the fees they take from their parents to employ independent, qualified young coaches for the age groups. If you have one of those clubs near you, my advice is to go there as quick as you can! If the RFU wanted to make a difference to the quality of coaching in community clubs, the easiest way would be to provide funding for them to employ professionals with a coaching science/eduational background and RFU level 1 and 2.

Worse than that, most schools do not do games any more, just PE which is a rolling programme of different sports each term. No real competitive sport. What there is is done after school as a club. Almost exclusively football. Apart from the Natwest cup (ex Daily Mail) there are no competitions to enter and no fixtures between schools.

This varies enormously by area. Where we now live many of the local state schools play inter-school competitive rugby (and it is very competitive). I think you are confusing what the school has to do for the curriculum (sampling different sports, promoting healthy lifestyles, GCSE PE and so on) and what they are capable of doing for extra-curricular sports (which relies on a teacher with the necessary expertise). The RFU are actually putting resources into rugby in state schools - check out the 'all schools' programme: http://www.rfu.com/allschools - and provides lesson plans for teachers. If your child's school isn't making use of them, ask why!

[The Boy Dave]

RFU level 1 and 2.

To be honest I couldn't quite believe how easy level 2 was to get. We also had one guy who constantly disagreed with coach educators and was very opinionated. He was given a little extra to get it and complete the course, he calmed down and accepted he would not get the level if he didn't listen but it was clear as soon as he walked out of the door that he would forget everything he had been told. Then there were others who just nodded to everything, got the course but knew little else. There are lots of good coaches around, there are also lots of poor ones, choose clubs very carefully!
I would add a good committed mini/junior chairman is worth as much as a good coach. Some may seem serious and sometimes overbearing but they will keep the many coaches in check and do all they can to help the kids as the section can often reflect them.