While schoolboy rugby has been covered at length of late, we really need to be looking at the age groups of under 6s to under 12s.
Even at these age groups, there is a ton of politics and ‘bigger is best’ mentality. The coaches who have the bigger is best mentality believe it is the best way to win trophies.
With that in mind, should they even be playing for trophies, or should coaches be focused on boosting player numbers, and giving everyone sufficient game time so they can develop skills.
Leinster were the instigators of this. People involved in the game there said that rugby has to really work on increasing participation numbers.
Currently the ARU, in their under 6 to under 12s pathway, mention that comps, ladders, and grand finals are allowed from under 8s Finals
With no finals series, I imagine coaches will look at picking their best players to get to the grand final and streaming the kids if there are other divisions. The kids are too young at the lower age groups to be streaming them in to As, Bs, Cs etc as kids are playing for enjoyment and develop at different rates.
Where I coach, as soon as a kid thinks that he is in the B team their heads drop and show resentment. Streaming happened when I was playing in under 7s and that was a long time ago.
There was a team that won every match and the other lost every match. I couldn’t imagine that unions and sub-unions not having competitions and grand finals given the mentality that exists. Kids currently go on to full pitches from under 10s so it wouldn’t be easy for clubs and even schools to find enough pitches with posts and lines if they are fielding a number of teams in each group.
Disbanding the comps from under 8s to under 12s to follow the Irish and English model to play union or club/school blitz days and carnivals might be a way of reducing the current costs of the $220 levy per junior team. It also means that each age group has a squad rather than a firsts, seconds, thirds split in to divisions.
Some clubs don’t have the numbers to compete in each division in their relevant area and I imagine the junior levy is another deterrent. They will just pay the $220 per age group and split the squad up on a blitz day. The amount of teams they can field on a given day is determined by how the many the opposition-field.
There have only been a couple of times where we had to lend or borrow players – it happened regularly when I was a kid. This will eliminate the pressure of fielding complete teams. I remember having a result overturned at under 12s level as the opposition had put a load of kids from a higher division in the age group in to the match. It was a ridiculous mentality and it wasn’t even a final.
The fact that the ARU have an under 6s grade further highlights the importance of getting kids in to the game. You have to get them even younger these days. England even have rugby tots for toddlers. Under 6s and 12s are important and there has to be a constant flow through the club each season in the good club as the city clubs lose players from under 13 to under 18 to the big schools.
Here in Ireland, they play under 14s, 16s and 18s in the clubs to counter that.
My club manages because of strong squad numbers coming up from minis (under 12s and below). For example, under 14s could consist of two teams. Create a younger team consisting of the kids who played under 12s the previous year to keep them together.
The other team will consist of the older kids in the age group who have stuck together. This eases the pressure of having to fill each grade and there aren’t enough clubs that can do it to form under 13s and under 15s competitions.
This is why under 6s to under 12s is important. If you have the numbers in each age group you can field squads in every group which is better for the kids and coaches. If there are kids that can stick with the club they are moving up as a squad in to youth rugby.
The more players you have in the club, the greater likelihood that they will encourage their friends to come down. I have found in my club that has been the most effective and affordable way of attracting players into the squads. Subs from junior registrations are valuable to smaller clubs that don’t have big club houses, and struggle with reduced sponsorship and low senior numbers.
My club has about 600 kids in the youths and minis and less than five senior teams. Due to the high kids numbers there is an expectation to get more recruits to boost the clubs coffers as the senior numbers have dropped.
In regards to rules, under 8s seven-a-side focus on catching, evasive skills and tackling techniques, catching and passing. Under 9s and 10s, who have ten players per side play on quarter size pitches with rucks, tackling, scrums and lineouts (uncontested) and no kicking introduced.
Under 11s and under 12s, 12 a side with contested scrums and lineouts on a half pitch so you can two games going on at the same time. All this keeps everyone involved in the squad together in the same location. Kids get to know each other better too.
All this puts the focus back on the clubs and coaches in to what they should be working on rather than the easy route of bigger is best and picking the ‘top’ players to win trophies.
More kids can get involved and hence the better chance of retaining participation at a later age. There needs to more of a focus on retaining players so that teams can be filled through the age groups. A smaller comp like the ACT, which has participation issues and regular forfeits, could trial this.
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