Size for age: Is it fair to have an 11-year-old playing in an older league?

Cheers Jez Nice clarification. Shame he seems allergic to any form of competition. The purest form of gentle giant.

Wal, my read is that both the height and the weight would need to be over so he’d potentially be asked to go to the 14’s, still really not ideal. . BUT my read of the above is that it’s not an automatic that a kid gets sent to a different age group, rather that if they are above the height and weight that they are assessed to see whether they need to play up or not. Which actually sounds eminently sensible.

I grew up playing League in Qld, where the schools competition I played in was in weight divisions, not in age groups. It worked pretty well. The top team in any school would have been a senior side without weight restrictions. Youngsters could play above their weight division, but not below. Occasionally schools would put a bigger ring-in into one of their weight divisions. Good players could cope with the occasional outstandingly bigger player, but there were only a few such, and dealing with them taught a lot about how to defend/tackle effectively. I came late to Rugby, when I became a coach at a Melbourne private school, where teams were in age groups. That worked OK, too, in my particular school competition, where I don't remember any particularly huge kids. There were schools rules and policies, particularly for scrums that meant coaches had to select/recruit appropriately built boys for their positions.I wouldn't mind seeing Rugby competitions arranged in weight divisions at all age levels. There is a lightweight division in rowing, because rowers with less muscle mass and maybe shorter muscles are at too great a mechanical disadvantage. I could see (say) an under 85 kg division in senior rugby attracting players who just wouldn't be competitive in open weight divisions (like in boxing flyweights don't go so well against heavyweights). I wouldn't stop grown men playing above their weight divisions (the elite would play in open weight divisions of course), but I reckon we might get a lot of takers for under weight competitions.

Talking from experience this isn't a simple issue. I was young for my standard, u16 in matric. I played u14 for 3 years as I just wasn't physically "hard" enough although I was the same size as my classmates. I tried to move up with them but got injured too easily so I stayed until I caught up with my age group. After school I played club rugby against grown men as an u17 and just couldn't hack it so I gave up playing. You might have gathered I was no James O'Connor :)

While the intention may be about safety, its only a short-term solution which, quite likely, may lead to greater longterm issues for the game. How does this approach actually prepare the kids for reality? Wanting to protect children is great, but coddling them in cottonball is quite another thing and much more often than not has lasting negative affects on the children concerned as they grow up. Rugby is constantly promoted as a game for people of all shapes and sizes, but you're sending a very different msg if you enforce different 'rules' for different shapes and sizes now aren't you? What happens once these kids hit the senior lvls, last 2 or 3 years of highschool and varsity. What happens to the guys outside the previously stringent 'acceptable' body shape and size? They suddenly hit a brick wall they've had no preparation for in all the years of their development? Yeah, while perhaps a good intention, it seems to do nothing more than sow division and send a message that the game is for a select few of the optimal size and shape rather than what is 'advertised' as game for everybody.

As a Kiwi here's my 2 cents, we have had weight grades from my time playing to my son's playing rugby, it hasn't done any harm to the development of the game in NZ. Having very big boys does as it soon becomes a pass the ball to Jonah game plan rather then using the whole team. The quide listed above still allows for 30 - 40kg difference from smallest to largest in an age group. I'm not sure height matters so much.

My Son fits in this category as well, At 12 Years old and 182cm and 95kg I think I read it right he would have to play under 16s. Problem is he doesn't have any control over that body and very little muscle mass. Rugby is probably the one sport where he could "hide" the lack of coordination and conditioning by playing Prop (no slight on props), but put him in a scrum against a 95kg 16 year old and he is going to get hurt and very fast. I don't have a better alternative either, bigger playing numbers could have above and below in each age group. But that's not the reality. Sadly back to the playstation it is :unhappy:

The sooner Australia adopts a weight based system the better. The old age system is dumb and puts smaller or later developing kids at risk.

So you believe the rugby/life lesson is it ok to be demolished for the fun of it because someone else is gaming the system by pushing down players an age group and then simply overpowering them. Interesting life viewpoint there.

If you lose players at 13 because of the sometimes ridiculous mismatches in size and weight you don't get them back at 19 when they've grown up and filled out. Sure,we've all seen some tough little kids who can hack it but there's a lot more out there thinking this sucks and give it away.

It’s a contact sport grow up Seems you liked it when you were too dog but now someone’s challenging you,you don’t like it anymore. Have the kids learn from it. My team used to play against these two cousins, one is now a professional rugby player in Australia, they were both over 100kg by the time they were 12. In u12,13’s they absolutely demolished us, u14’s we just beat their team and u15’s and 16’s we absolutely smashed them and their team. We never caught up in size to them, they were still huge (and skilful) but our whole team learnt how to deal with bigger rugby players and we became so much better because of it! Severe injuries in junior rugby are so bloody rare, half of you talk as if they are regular occurrences

Exactly... no person can run without legs

Speaking as a father of an U11 boy as well as the coach of the same team, I can not emphasise enough how import the size control is. The previous year for u10 our team played against similar sized kids as our team had a fair spread of biggish & smallish boys & had a 90% win record due to skill & motivation. This year they played against the same clubs that suddenly had a whole lot of boys playing down a grade (with personal doubts regarding their eligibilty) and got smashed 50-0 week in & week out. 3 Games in to the season & the only reason the boys kept coming to practice was due to old rusted rugby parents like myself trying to teach our kids the principle of comeraderie & "you win some, you lose some". But the demoralisation of these boys was hard to take & I can guarantee we lost 20% of our players to other sports. Which to me is the big factor at these age groups as we want them to keep coming back & have the numbers to play a sport which is not high on the national popularity stakes. Only at higher age groups & a couple of years of experience should personal choice override enforced guidelines. But at these age groups the future safety & enjoyment of the sport should take precedence over "I want my kid to run over the small ones". Even the current weight regulation in my mind is ridiculous as a 29kg kid is on a hiding to nothing against a 65kg kid. Do we want to have a big pool of players to choose from or only half a team of oversized kids with nobody to play against?

I think maybe I was lucky as my old man and grandad always had a lot of praise for a good, low, bootlaces tackle.

I can write as someone who went through the 'weight for age' system in NSW schools late 60's/early 70's. I was one of the big kids and really hated standing on those scales at the start of the season and was graded two age groups up for a couple of years ,btw sorry to say this was League as that was all that was played at CHS schools ,( still is ? ) don't worry I'm a lifer Rugby man. Anyway I got through it ok although there was barely a word spoken to me by the older kids , unless I dropped the pill ! So there was social isolation I guess but you get over it and take up the challenge ! Get stuck in !

If this 11 year old is clearly heavier than 65kg, then maybe it's a case of him being massively overweight??? It's all good being able to demolish teams at 11, but I'd hate to see how big he's going to be at 18.

Oh I’m not fine... in fact I suffer from every major symptom of Early onset CTE. However I got most if not all my concussions from Colts and grades. I stopped playing by 25 as I knew I was going down a bad path. Worst injuries I got as a kid were broken fingers and sprained ankles. What I had as a kid were coaches who thought us how to tackle in a safe way. I did that as a child and it worked out. It was as an adult I changed my approach as coaches wanted to see the big hits out of the little guy. And as the little guy I wanted to prove I could play above my weight. Playing grades at 18 was my mistake and the mistake of my coaches. What I’m trying to say is that maybe we need to focus on how we teach the youngsters. They see the pros laying on the big hits and they hear the cheers they get from putting on those big hits. They are replayed at half time and in the highlights reals on you tube. What you don’t see is the replay and the cheers for the perfect side tackle around the legs brining a player to the ground swiftly and effectively. Kids will want to replicate what the see from the pros and what the media blasts. Front on tackles from a little fella on a big fella usually go in favour of the big kids. Teach them how to use their body and size to their advantage and a lot of the injuries will go. I will add that I have seen and heard from parents of the big kids that they should be out there “smashing” the little kids. Maybe we could educate some parents that this is a game for kids to enjoy and not to encourage anyone to try and hurt anyone else.

I couldnt agree with you more. Weirdly I have a big 11 year old son (whos taller than me). Who is at the top end of the range. 1.65m and 64kgs. But he doesnt have explosive power, even though hes very strong. I would hesitate putting him up against u12's. Having said that, I really dont enjoy him going head to head with "little guys" either. But hes never "run through" a team, even though he probably could if he had that temperament. But I do think having weight and age linked categories of some kind would help South African rugby. As far as I know, in order for your kid to play in a higher age group, you have to get written permission from the parents, the club as well as the Union. You cant just choose to play in a higher age group. In fact, we have to submit the player sheets at each match with ID numbers and if requested birth certificates to avoid mismatching. Some boys in u11 are BIG.

its actually nothing to do with PC. you obviously dont know what PC is

Hmm based on this I wouldn't have been allowed to play U15 rugby when I did as I fell below the minimum. Yet I was playing 1stXV rugby at that age?