What the Under 8s can teach the Wallabies
Roar Rookie
By mickeym, 25 Sep 2009 mickeym is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Rugby Union, wallabies
There was something missing from the Wallabies team in Wellington. Most viewers could see what it was. But maybe the players need to see it for themselves.
You see, I help to coach an U8′s Rugby team in Sydney. Our boys, on average, weigh 25kg. They recently came across a team with a number of players weighing in at over 65kg each.
But our boys have heart. They have guts. And they have pride in their jersey.
Every time one of the opposition big kids received the ball, our boys stood up to be counted, and had a go.
Our boys were down by three tries at half time. They were bloody and bruised. They were exhausted from trying to stop rolling mauls, being driven by an opposition weighing almost three times as much as them.
But they weren’t going to let their team mates down. Weren’t going to let their parents down. They especially weren’t going to let their coaches down.
They had belief. Belief in themselves. In their abilities. In their mates.
And soon, the opposition realised that this wasn’t going to be another walkover. They hadn’t come across this before. They didn’t know how to handle it.
At full time, our boys came off completely spent.
Mum’s crowded around their little boys, fussing over bruises, stud marks and bloody noses. Dad’s shuffled around with tears in their eyes.
But it didn’t matter. The boys had had a go. They’d given their all. They’d supported their mates.
And they had won the game by two tries.
Perhaps the current Wallaby squad should come and watch next time the boys play. Because these kids have something that was sadly lacking last Saturday in Wellington.
These kids have heart.
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LeftArmSpinner said | September 25th 2009 @ 6:42am | Report comment
I agree with you completely and MickeyM, there’s more. you aint seen nothin’ yet. in the semis, finals and GF’s, their effort increases again at each stage, not just some, but all of them. If anything, the less well performed improve more.
the wallabies have some real life lessons to learn. lets make sure that we provide the consequences of both their previous performances and lack of ticker and lack of care about the Wallaby legacy and purpose and not learning these lessons.
Sam Taulelei said | September 25th 2009 @ 9:29am | Report comment
LAS
That’s the incredible thing about kids, they don’t have a sense of giving up. They just pick themselves up and give it another crack. As they grow and mature, that lesson either gets lost, forgotten or diluted for some.
ohtani's jacket said | September 25th 2009 @ 7:39am | Report comment
Go the U8s! That was a great story.
Sam Taulelei said | September 25th 2009 @ 7:44am | Report comment
what a great post. valuable lesson for any team. thanks mickeym and good luck for the rest of the season.
CraigB said | September 25th 2009 @ 9:13am | Report comment
MickeyM – Great post mate. If anyone knows how to “play whats in front of them” its the U/8 – U/12. They really do make you remember why we love the game in the first place. How about keeping us up to date as your team progresses??
damos_x said | September 25th 2009 @ 10:12am | Report comment
now that’s real sport! obviously we all love all kinds of sports or we wouldn’t be on ‘the Roar’ but that was a whole lot more interesting than reading about Fev or Bazza or how poor the Wallabies are. good on ya’s little tykes!!
mickeym said | September 25th 2009 @ 10:22am | Report comment
Thanks for your feedback guys. I felt compelled to write it after watching a replay of Saturday’s game with my son.
Towards the end of the game, he looked at me and said, “Dad, why aren’t they even trying?”
The season is now over for our boys. The ARU have decreed that at this age, we don’t keep score for any game – but just try telling our boys that! So no semi’s or finals for them.
The boys are proud to tell me that of the 18 games they played, the won 15. And, in the very last game of the season, everything came together. The passing was great. Our bigger boys discovered that they could run. Defense was superb. Every single boy put together what they had practiced all year, and everyone had a blinder of a game.
I was overseas, and missed that last game. But the first thing my son told me when I got home was “Dad, we were winning 11 tries to nil. John [our other coach] told us near the end that it is important that everyone on both teams enjoys their rugby. So we missed some tackles so they could score 2 tries. It was really good!”
These boys have heart…
Brett McKay said | September 25th 2009 @ 10:27am | Report comment
Great stuff MickeyM, I love these kinds of articles..
If it wasn’t for the reward of a form auto-reply (at best), I’d suggest you send it on to the ARU, but as another Roarer found out this week (Craig?? Apologies to the author in question), you’re not filled with confidence that the message will get through…
JimmyJam said | September 25th 2009 @ 10:48am | Report comment
Fantastic story mate, made my day!
Hopefully see some of those little blokes in a gold jersey one day!!
Who Needs Melon said | September 25th 2009 @ 4:54pm | Report comment
Ken Oath.
I think I choked up a bit reading that!
And you know what, I would have liked it just as much if you’d said that they’d lost by 5 tries.
mcxd said | September 25th 2009 @ 6:33pm | Report comment
65 kg under 8′s ? flamin’ hell what are they being fed ? creatine ?
Fly on the Wall said | September 26th 2009 @ 9:17pm | Report comment
To put it politely, they come from a long way east of Australia and are possibly on a diet of KFC, Maccas and Hungry Jacks.
But I also ask you this: is it fairer to have a 25kg 8-year-old playing against a 50kg 8yo (or even a team full of them), or to have a 50kg 12yo playing against a 50kg 8yo?
Does the weight difference of the first case make for a potentially more dangerous situation than the age and maturity difference of the second case?
While many old timers will remember the days of weight divisions rather than age groups, the huge influx of Pacific Islander immigration has made this possibly the most important debate regarding the future of union at junior levels.
Will the vast numbers of huge Islander lads playing rugby affect the number of Aussie kids playing?
From my experience on the northern beaches of Sydney, the Islander kids playing junior league seem to be a lot slimmer and fitter than the Islander boys playing junior union.
Any thoughts?
ache