Junior Rugby - does anyone coach?
Discussion
I am in a position whereby I have been asked to take more of a coaching role at my local RUFC. My lad (aged 7) currently trains in a blended 6/7 year old group, then the 7s merge with the 8s to play local games of tag rugby following RFU guidance and rules.
I'm considering accepting the request, as I'd like to dip my toe back into rugby life, spend more time with my son and hopefully get him into the game, but I'd like to do a bit more reading and prep work to see if it's something that I'll find interesting and whether I'd be any good at it.
In terms of my playing background, I've played minis, juniors, colts, university level, U19 and U21 Premiership, in Scottish regional tournaments including a brief spell in the Scotland U21 setup, so I know my way around a pitch and have a lot of experience to pass on, and I've been coached by some top level people over the years, but I'm under no illusion that:
a) It's a different game to the one I played 10+ years ago
b) There are very specific rules and regulations from the RFU about what can be done in each age group
c) There are safeguarding measures to follow
d) I need to keep it fun and get the parents on-board (most of them will be standing pitch side)
Are there any courses that I can go on, or books that are worth reading? YouTube links welcome!
I'm considering accepting the request, as I'd like to dip my toe back into rugby life, spend more time with my son and hopefully get him into the game, but I'd like to do a bit more reading and prep work to see if it's something that I'll find interesting and whether I'd be any good at it.
In terms of my playing background, I've played minis, juniors, colts, university level, U19 and U21 Premiership, in Scottish regional tournaments including a brief spell in the Scotland U21 setup, so I know my way around a pitch and have a lot of experience to pass on, and I've been coached by some top level people over the years, but I'm under no illusion that:
a) It's a different game to the one I played 10+ years ago
b) There are very specific rules and regulations from the RFU about what can be done in each age group
c) There are safeguarding measures to follow
d) I need to keep it fun and get the parents on-board (most of them will be standing pitch side)
Are there any courses that I can go on, or books that are worth reading? YouTube links welcome!
I got involved when my eldest was a similar age and ran through with him to colts.
The club will or should put you on firstly DBS and then the relevant coaching courses.
Coaching very young kids is challenging, trying to make basics skills in to a fun game is key. You will have kids that don’t want to be there but daddy or grandad played so they are made to go, other parents just want rid for a hour or so.
Parents are the worst part, not all but you will get lots of abuse, this is often around selection. Not really an issue when they are young.
Don’t under estimate how much time it can consume, planning sessions etc.
I enjoyed it more once they got to around U11 or U12’s as they started to understand the game more and seeing them take things from training to a match is heart warming.
Kids get the game at different ages, you have to try stick with them.
Ultimately seeing them develop, wining a tournament, getting just one of your players into a regional development programme is rewarding.
The big challenge is getting as many of these minis-and juniors in to senior rugby at any level.
The club will or should put you on firstly DBS and then the relevant coaching courses.
Coaching very young kids is challenging, trying to make basics skills in to a fun game is key. You will have kids that don’t want to be there but daddy or grandad played so they are made to go, other parents just want rid for a hour or so.
Parents are the worst part, not all but you will get lots of abuse, this is often around selection. Not really an issue when they are young.
Don’t under estimate how much time it can consume, planning sessions etc.
I enjoyed it more once they got to around U11 or U12’s as they started to understand the game more and seeing them take things from training to a match is heart warming.
Kids get the game at different ages, you have to try stick with them.
Ultimately seeing them develop, wining a tournament, getting just one of your players into a regional development programme is rewarding.
The big challenge is getting as many of these minis-and juniors in to senior rugby at any level.
Go for it! 
Invariably all the coaches will just be parents who decide it's more fun (and often warmer!) to get involved than standing on the sidelines watching.
It's also a very progressive path, so you needn't worry at all about the game being different to the one you played. At the early stages, it wouldn't even matter if you'd never played yourself, because if you can't keep ahead of an 8yr old, you should be worried!
By the time they're getting up to 12 and beyond, the skills you obviously have from your playing days will be coming to the fore, and those core skills remain the same, even if some of the laws have changed.
I've seen the emotion on the face of a coach in the club bar when one of the lads he'd coached from the age of 5 ran out to win his first cap in the Six Nations, and yes, it had to be an amazing feeling, but in so many ways, the real mark of success would just be seeing your own club teams populated by your lads in years to come.
It was even more special during Covid! We trained our boys on every single Sunday on which we were legally allowed to do so, even if it was just fitness training, and right the way through the summer too. Often when they weren't even allowed to be in school, they could come to the club on a Sunday and have the only real world interaction with their mates since rugby the previous week. As a result, we now have a large squad of extremely motivated players who in many cases are far closer to each other than to anyone they're in school with. Yes, it's nice to have a number of boys in Quins' youth programme, especially as mine is one of them, but above all, the satisfaction from seeing how they've absolutely all matured and developed, in large part thanks to rugby, and role we've played in that which is so satisfying!
Your Union - RFU in my case, but doubtless the same in Scotland - will have overall coaching and reffing training and qualification pathways, along with specialist courses, and as I said previously, it's all a progression, with tag first, then the tackle coming in, followed by uncontested 3 player then 5 player scrums, contested hooking but not pushing, uncontested line-out etc, etc, until by the time you get to Colts, they're essentially playing the full adult game with just a few tweaks for safety, such as not allowing scrums to travel more than 1.5m or rotate more than 45 degrees.
Invariably all the coaches will just be parents who decide it's more fun (and often warmer!) to get involved than standing on the sidelines watching.
It's also a very progressive path, so you needn't worry at all about the game being different to the one you played. At the early stages, it wouldn't even matter if you'd never played yourself, because if you can't keep ahead of an 8yr old, you should be worried!
By the time they're getting up to 12 and beyond, the skills you obviously have from your playing days will be coming to the fore, and those core skills remain the same, even if some of the laws have changed.I've seen the emotion on the face of a coach in the club bar when one of the lads he'd coached from the age of 5 ran out to win his first cap in the Six Nations, and yes, it had to be an amazing feeling, but in so many ways, the real mark of success would just be seeing your own club teams populated by your lads in years to come.
It was even more special during Covid! We trained our boys on every single Sunday on which we were legally allowed to do so, even if it was just fitness training, and right the way through the summer too. Often when they weren't even allowed to be in school, they could come to the club on a Sunday and have the only real world interaction with their mates since rugby the previous week. As a result, we now have a large squad of extremely motivated players who in many cases are far closer to each other than to anyone they're in school with. Yes, it's nice to have a number of boys in Quins' youth programme, especially as mine is one of them, but above all, the satisfaction from seeing how they've absolutely all matured and developed, in large part thanks to rugby, and role we've played in that which is so satisfying!
Your Union - RFU in my case, but doubtless the same in Scotland - will have overall coaching and reffing training and qualification pathways, along with specialist courses, and as I said previously, it's all a progression, with tag first, then the tackle coming in, followed by uncontested 3 player then 5 player scrums, contested hooking but not pushing, uncontested line-out etc, etc, until by the time you get to Colts, they're essentially playing the full adult game with just a few tweaks for safety, such as not allowing scrums to travel more than 1.5m or rotate more than 45 degrees.
After my son started in the under 8s in December 21 I decided to give coaching a go with the under 9s. It’s so rewarding I genuinely look forward to getting up on a Sunday morning and helping out (and I used to look forward to a lie in!). The only downsides are that I’ve started playing again for the third team (not played since school some 20 odd years ago!), and I try to find any excuse to “just pop up to the club”… It’s lovely, get it done.
I started coaching U6s when my son started. I became a coach because there was only one other coach at the first training session with 30 kids so I stepped in to help. We soon had a team of 6-7 regular coaches and it was good fun. It reignited my love of the game. I started playing again for the vets team and had my best match ever. Got sent on various courses and the level 3 (now I believe the coaching award system has changed).
Then we had covid and the head coach quit. Nobody else took it on so I stepped up. The covid times were interesting and a challenge, but as the previous poster notes, it shows just how important the club is to some of those kids, and their families. I ran sessions on the Knavesmire that summer, following all the SD rules, as the club wouldn’t let us train. I got all the kids brand new balls to take home to practice with, which meant we could deliver online coaching when L2 happened. It kept me busy.
The coaching experience of the kids themselves is very rewarding, it gets ‘easier’ to do sessions with more experience, the first ones can be quite daunting. There are loads of online resources for session planning and ideas to keep things fun. The club will DBS check you and invite you to go on some RFU courses (which are really good and worthwhile) that teach you how to coach, the laws, and deliver a session. You should go for it, rugby for young kids is as much about personal values as it is the game, you’ll be helping to shape a future generation.
Outside of the rugby there is plenty else to think about . I would do some reading up on parent coaching as it’s a key aspect of your own child’s experience of your participation as a parent/coach. And some reading about how to deal with difficult parents would be useful.
Sorry if I am teaching you to suck eggs, not intended.
Then we had covid and the head coach quit. Nobody else took it on so I stepped up. The covid times were interesting and a challenge, but as the previous poster notes, it shows just how important the club is to some of those kids, and their families. I ran sessions on the Knavesmire that summer, following all the SD rules, as the club wouldn’t let us train. I got all the kids brand new balls to take home to practice with, which meant we could deliver online coaching when L2 happened. It kept me busy.
The coaching experience of the kids themselves is very rewarding, it gets ‘easier’ to do sessions with more experience, the first ones can be quite daunting. There are loads of online resources for session planning and ideas to keep things fun. The club will DBS check you and invite you to go on some RFU courses (which are really good and worthwhile) that teach you how to coach, the laws, and deliver a session. You should go for it, rugby for young kids is as much about personal values as it is the game, you’ll be helping to shape a future generation.
Outside of the rugby there is plenty else to think about . I would do some reading up on parent coaching as it’s a key aspect of your own child’s experience of your participation as a parent/coach. And some reading about how to deal with difficult parents would be useful.
Sorry if I am teaching you to suck eggs, not intended.
Loads of great advice so far so just a couple points from me:
- started doing the same as my local club welcomed my four boys over the the years and I felt a little guilty just helping the milfs do hotdogs after training.
- very rewarding but don’t expect to use much of your experience with the age group you mentioned. As others have alluded too the game is very basic at what I perceive you saying is effectively Primary school P2.
- like others have said, some kids won’t get it for another few years. Try and get these kids to just enjoy the physicality and your sessions.
- example - I have brought a bag of tennis balls for the first few mins or warm up and we just play catch. Kids get whoops and we’ll dones from the coach’s and the world goes mad if someone catches one handed. spatial awareness, hand eye coordination is the focus here.
- how do you judge success? The boys (and girls) all come back next week and typically at the start of the new season your charges have encouraged a few school mates to try it.
- don’t be a shouty tell them what to do during a game coach/dad….
-…….because parents will. Even in rugby there are ?? ends screaming in 8/9/10 year olds faces.
-oh yeah and if you are P1/2/3…..you are getting headered in the balls. We started training tackling. Momentarily distracted, held a tackle pad a few inches too high, one of our more advanced kids hit me full pelt in the knackers
- started doing the same as my local club welcomed my four boys over the the years and I felt a little guilty just helping the milfs do hotdogs after training.
- very rewarding but don’t expect to use much of your experience with the age group you mentioned. As others have alluded too the game is very basic at what I perceive you saying is effectively Primary school P2.
- like others have said, some kids won’t get it for another few years. Try and get these kids to just enjoy the physicality and your sessions.
- example - I have brought a bag of tennis balls for the first few mins or warm up and we just play catch. Kids get whoops and we’ll dones from the coach’s and the world goes mad if someone catches one handed. spatial awareness, hand eye coordination is the focus here.
- how do you judge success? The boys (and girls) all come back next week and typically at the start of the new season your charges have encouraged a few school mates to try it.
- don’t be a shouty tell them what to do during a game coach/dad….
-…….because parents will. Even in rugby there are ?? ends screaming in 8/9/10 year olds faces.
-oh yeah and if you are P1/2/3…..you are getting headered in the balls. We started training tackling. Momentarily distracted, held a tackle pad a few inches too high, one of our more advanced kids hit me full pelt in the knackers
Edited by cavey76 on Sunday 12th March 19:30
This is brilliant guys, thanks so much for taking the time to reply. It’s a small group at the moment (maybe 10 of them tops) so I’ve decided to go for it. I’ll be leading the 6/7s coaching sessions and helping with the 8s when they play games. I was asked if I wanted to move up with the 8s as they start to learn contact in the 9s next season but I’ve decided to stick with my lad (after all that’s the whole point). Plenty of time getting to grow into contact rugby. It’s a small under-funded team (don’t even have a club house) so I can see myself dipping into my own pocket to fund some of the resources, but who cares!
Mac. said:
This is brilliant guys, thanks so much for taking the time to reply. It’s a small group at the moment (maybe 10 of them tops) so I’ve decided to go for it. I’ll be leading the 6/7s coaching sessions and helping with the 8s when they play games. I was asked if I wanted to move up with the 8s as they start to learn contact in the 9s next season but I’ve decided to stick with my lad (after all that’s the whole point). Plenty of time getting to grow into contact rugby. It’s a small under-funded team (don’t even have a club house) so I can see myself dipping into my own pocket to fund some of the resources, but who cares!
Have fun!
I was in a similar position to you having played professionally about twenty years ago. Early growth spurts meant I played everywhere from second row to wing! I wanted to get back into it with coaching but good God, hasn’t everything changed? 
I decided to help out a local team who were struggling for coaches in the mini section. I found it was more about making it fun while building the basics, so a kind of fun babysitting session in a way! The trick was getting them to learn without them realising it
I had originally hoped to coach older kids and have been asked to do so. However I’m getting a lot of joy and pride from building a solid foundation for the younger kids so that they get to the ‘proper’ teams with a good set of hands and the early stages of learning the game
I decided to help out a local team who were struggling for coaches in the mini section. I found it was more about making it fun while building the basics, so a kind of fun babysitting session in a way! The trick was getting them to learn without them realising it
I had originally hoped to coach older kids and have been asked to do so. However I’m getting a lot of joy and pride from building a solid foundation for the younger kids so that they get to the ‘proper’ teams with a good set of hands and the early stages of learning the game
BabySharkDD said:
I was in a similar position to you having played professionally about twenty years ago. Early growth spurts meant I played everywhere from second row to wing! I wanted to get back into it with coaching but good God, hasn’t everything changed?
I decided to help out a local team who were struggling for coaches in the mini section. I found it was more about making it fun while building the basics, so a kind of fun babysitting session in a way! The trick was getting them to learn without them realising it
I had originally hoped to coach older kids and have been asked to do so. However I’m getting a lot of joy and pride from building a solid foundation for the younger kids so that they get to the ‘proper’ teams with a good set of hands and the early stages of learning the game
I'd say that probably makes you something of a valuable rarity for your club then!I decided to help out a local team who were struggling for coaches in the mini section. I found it was more about making it fun while building the basics, so a kind of fun babysitting session in a way! The trick was getting them to learn without them realising it
I had originally hoped to coach older kids and have been asked to do so. However I’m getting a lot of joy and pride from building a solid foundation for the younger kids so that they get to the ‘proper’ teams with a good set of hands and the early stages of learning the game
Pretty much all club coaches tend to be parents of kids they coach, so we progress through the age groups with them, and at most might drop down once or twice to bring up a younger offspring. Having grounded foundations like you're giving must be great for consistency!
Kermit power said:
I'd say that probably makes you something of a valuable rarity for your club then!
Pretty much all club coaches tend to be parents of kids they coach, so we progress through the age groups with them, and at most might drop down once or twice to bring up a younger offspring. Having grounded foundations like you're giving must be great for consistency!
It’s what I originally expected to do to be honest. As a youth player it was always the same where you’d grow with a group of coaches. However I find it avoids a lot of petty ‘sports politics’ by sticking at mini level, I had enough of that in my career / youth training to last a lifetime.Pretty much all club coaches tend to be parents of kids they coach, so we progress through the age groups with them, and at most might drop down once or twice to bring up a younger offspring. Having grounded foundations like you're giving must be great for consistency!
It might be different if my son played rugby ( I’d probably get more involved higher up the age groups) however my son… my son… * grabs support to avoid collapsing * … he plays football
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