Children enjoying the non competitive festival format
Festival Fun
Over 1000 children have been taking part in rugby festivals throughout the region during this term. Most classes receive rugby lessons during the curriculum and, to round things off nicely, the schools attend local festivals held at their closest rugby club. Events were held in Peebles, Gala, Selkirk, Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose, Haddington and Tranent.
For further information contact East Lothian & Borders RDM Brian Renwick at brian.renwick@sru.org.uk
Deans Means Full of Beans
During the first school term there has been much rugby activity in West Lothian. The Deans Primary Cluster enjoyed four weeks of rugby coaching culminating in a tag festival held at Livingston Rugby Club with 160 pupils taking part. This was the second session of rugby for some schools as they had participated in FSA (Food Standards Agency) sessions earlier in 2009.
ESSP-ecial Delivery
The ESSP (Excellence in School Sport Programme) has been running since August. The purpose of the programme is to give talented individuals extra practice and support in a high performance environment. Selected S5 and S6 pupils from across West Lothian have been taking part in twice weekly rugby sessions led by PJ Butler (Linlithgow CDO) and Craig Bolan (Livingston CDO) as well as getting specialist support in strength and conditioning, sport psychology and nutrition. The pupils are fortunate enough to have educational support as part of the programme and recently attended an interactive workshop on Confidence in Sport delivered by ESSP sport psychologist Katie Sinnott.
Gregor Townsend and Clackmannanshire Coaches
Positive Response to Coaching
Clackmannanshire rugby coaches heard recently from Scottish rugby legend Gregor Townsend at a Positive Coaching Workshop in Lornshill Academy. Throughout his presentation, Scotland’s attack coach highlighted the importance of a positive mentality towards coaching youngsters’ rugby, urging the coaches to motivate and inspire their players. The PCS workshop was delivered by Clackmannanshire Rugby Development Officer, Ben Hanvey, who commented, “The evening was a great success and having Gregor Townsend there to enforce the importance of Positive Coaching Scotland in our sport was very motivational for the coaches in Clackmannanshire.”
Central Festival game, Falkirk v Strathendrick
Weathering the Festivals
November saw the first of the competitive Central Festivals and, in true Scottish winter fashion, the weather had a big part to play. The festival at Falkirk was the only one to go ahead with Grangemouth looking more like a swimming pool than a rugby pitch! Teams from Falkirk, Paisley, Cumbernauld, Strathendrick and Hillfoots all fielded teams from P4 to P7 and all enjoyed the break in bad weather to play some fantastic rugby.
For further information contact Central & West Lothian RDM John Manson at john.manson@sru.org.uk
Bishopton Minis at their first ever training session
Latest Developments
With Alastair Chalmers’ recent appointment as the new Club Development Officer at Whitecraigs Rugby Club, this is the first time there has been a full team of development officers, SVQs and part-time coaches across all seven local authorities in the Glasgow South area.
In Inverclyde and Renfrewshire there has been an increase in S1 and S2 school teams – great news as DOs have just been employed in these areas. These teams will be competing against each other at events with DOs working to link the players in these teams to local clubs. Meanwhile Bishopton have just started a mini section, with around 15 children turning up on a regular basis, supported by Lindsay Smith (DO for Renfrewshire Council).
Street Cred
Street Rugby is proving to be highly successful with DOs having delivered the game to over 300 youngsters, many of whom may not have had this opportunity before. There are a number of cases of youths going from Street Rugby to join their local club, a trend which is much encouraged.
Coaching Force
The next UKCC Level One event takes place in Ayr in January 2010 with Level Two in April. Places are still available for both with all the relevant information on the web page at www.scottishrugby.org/community/content/view/1067/116/.
GRAMPIAN Best of the Fests
Development staff have been very busy during curriculum and extra curriculum time this term working in primary and secondary schools. A number of local cluster festivals, from Forres to Stonehaven, have allowed the pupils to put into practice the skills they have learnt during the school sessions with almost 2000 taking part in these events.
Bryn Williams (officer in charge of rugby), Jim Henderson (chairman of the Kinloss Kestrals) with Pete Young, SRU Grampian Region Development Officer and Douglas Flowers, Scottish Hydro
Scottish Hydro Kit for Development
The remaining three clubs in Grampian (RAF Kinloss, RAF Lossiemouth and Peterhead) have received their kit for development from Scottish Hydro which has provided rugby kit for all the clubs participating in the leagues. RAF Kinloss and RAF Lossiemouth received their kit after the Forres schools festival.
Mascots Pitch In
The highly prized community mascot places for the Autumn tests all went to Aberdeenshire clubs who are proactive in developing their junior sections and working with the local sporting community. The Scotland v Fiji game featured mascots from Mackie and Banff, v Australia it was Huntly and Ellon, and for Argentina, Garioch and Deeside. Four more lucky mascots will be running out on the Murrayfield pitch with their heroes for the Six Nations matches, hailing from Aberdeen Wanderers and Aberdeen Grammar, Moray and Buckie.
Ross Rennie and Fraser McKenzie at the AYRA camp
Holiday Camps Get Pro Team Touch
Five holiday camps, organised over the October holidays by the development staff at Aberdeen, Garioch, Mackie, Ellon and Banff, attracted over 130 youngsters. A highlight of the Aberdeen Youth Rugby and Mackie events was the visit of Edinburgh pro players Ross Rennie and Fraser McKenzie.
Coaching On the Run
Four foundation coaching and referee courses have been run so far this season in Aberdeen (2), Ellon and Elgin, featuring nearly 50 participants. College students at Moray College completed their Foundation Course and will be able to assist with schools and club coaching in the Moray area. The UKCC Level 2 course takes place in Aberdeen in the spring and there are plans to run a UKCC 1 course up in Moray, in conjunction with Gordonstoun School, for local club coaches and school teachers.
St Clare’s Primary at the East Glasgow Tag Festival
Team Developments
Exciting times lie ahead for rugby in Glasgow North with several new additions to the development team. Stuart Rose takes up the post as DO in the east of the city, joined by Stuart Fenwick who will be covering the north and west. Both are graduates of the SVQ programme. Tyrone Sterry has been appointed in the new post of Lomond & Clyde DO, an appointment that came about through a partnership between Helensburgh RFC, Loch Lomond RFC, Clydebank RFC and Scottish Rugby. This sees a DO in the area for the first time in over four years. With these welcome additions, school rugby in the region continues to grow with Lanarkshire and Glasgow City School Cup competitions launching in the new year, providing local schools with opportunities for competitive rugby at S1 and S2 year groups.
Primary Gains
Primary schools are also receiving a comprehensive programme of rugby and, as a result, new mini rugby sections have been established in East Glasgow and on Islay.
Coaching Figures
With growth in youth rugby participation, coach education continues to be high on the agenda. In 2009 over 80 coaches from Glasgow North attended local UKCC courses.
The Kingussie High School U16 team who participated in the recent 10s Festival organised by Alan Falconer the Highland RFC Development Officer.
Inverness Has Got Talent!
Rugby fans in the Highlands and Islands got an early Christmas present when it was announced that Inverness had been chosen to host Scotland’s opening U20 6 Nations fixture against France U20 on Friday 5 February. The game (admission free), will kick off at 7.30pm at Caledonian Stadium. With Kris Hamilton from Caithness in the initial Scotland squad, it is anticipated a bumper crowd will attend this game and show their support for Scotland’s best young talent!
Western Isles’ First
Active Schools staff in the Western Isles co-ordinated a touch rugby festival in November at Liniclate School, Isle of Benbecula, for primary 6 and 7 pupils, the first time rugby has been offered to primary pupils in this area. Schools had three taster sessions in the lead up to the festival ensuring numbers attending were superb, with fifty children participating from Daliburgh, Balivanich, Carinish and Paible schools.
Orkney win Scottish Hydro Club of the Month
Congratulations go to Orkney Rugby Club who deservedly received a £1000 prize by becoming the Scottish Hydro Club of the Month for October, a tremendous achievement by all the members of the island club and their Club Development Officer, Bruce Ruthven.
Gary MacKenzie the Highland RFC SVQ refereeing at the recent Primary Schools festival attended by Muirtown, Tomnacross, Teannassie and Dochgarroch Primary Schools.
Here Come the H&I Girls
The Girls’ Rugby Development Co-ordinators, Amy Rennie and Kirsty Ruck, are keen to support the development of the girls’ game in the Highlands and Islands and will be organising cluster training sessions, starting towards the end of January. Amy is also tasked with developing the Northern Vixens squad, which was set up last year for players without a home team from around the Highlands & Islands. The teams (U18 & U15) come together to participate in local and national events, allowing the girls to take part in competitive rugby. Contact details are k.ruck_rugby@hotmail.com or amyrennie_rugby@hotmail.co.uk
League Launches
This year has seen the launch of the new schools’ Regional Leagues at under-14, under-15 and under-16 ages, with a minimum of six schools participating at each age group. The Emerging Schools Festivals continue to run for new rugby schools, focusing this year on the under-14 and under-16 age groups (so allowing two school year groups to combine for increased numbers). For the first time in a long while, Wester Hailes Education Centre (WHEC) and Holyrood HS have competed, along with Drummond and Craigroyston high schools.
Primary Focus
At the start of December, WHEC High School held a Primary 5 and 6 touch rugby tournament with a total of 123 children taking part. Organised by Assistant Forrester Development Officer, Gavin Sisson, and WHEC Active Schools Coordinator, Lesley-Ann Roy, the event was an incentive for the children to play touch rugby and invite them to their local rugby club, Forrester RFC.
In Midlothian, Penicuik Rugby Club played host to the local primary schools for their annual primary schools festival where 90 pupils took part in rugby activities followed by a Q&A session with Edinburgh player, Tim Visser. Penicuik also held the Midlothian October Holiday Camp, where young rugby players were able to hone their skills as well as play lots of fun games. The poor weather couldn’t dampen the spirits and the outdoor sessions were backed up with indoor games and quizzes.
Challenging Times
Following last year’s pilot matchday activity, the new Edinburgh Rugby halftime challenge is underway. Each Magners League game will see two local P6 sides compete in a series of small skills challenges in front of the ever growing Edinburgh crowd. So far this year Murrayfield Wanderers, Currie, Royal High, George Watson’s and Portobello have all participated, with eight more clubs lined up for 2010.
Six Pack
Finally, we welcome new recruits to the development team – six new first year SVQ apprentices, based at Lasswade, BATs, Currie, Boroughmuir, Murrayfield Wanderers and Royal High RFCs. These coaches will work alongside existing development staff to deliver rugby to local schools and encourage recruitment to their clubs.
For more information contact Edinburgh City & Midlothian RDM Greg Cann at greg.cann@sru.org.uk
The regional under-16 squad has been going through a series of training sessions on the physical and tactical attributes required and also a mental skills programme to aid their performances. These include areas such as goal setting, self talk and performance profiling. The Edinburgh under-17s and under-18s have had some extended squad sessions where the coaches have been working hard to develop the key national theme skills of the players. Performances will be reviewed before announcing final squads in January that will enter an intense preparation phase prior to the national selection fixtures against the other three regions.
The local Pathway Development Programme, for under-14 and under-15 players had a successful camp in October and look forward to the next session during the February holidays. The introduction and development of the key skills during this session will benefit the players hugely not only back in their clubs and schools but also as they move through the Pathway into the regional side at under-16 level.
For more information contact Borders & East Lothian PDM Bryan Easson at bryan.easson@sru.org.uk
Since the Regional Pathway finished in August all programmes have been moving through the process of narrowing down the selected squads (under-16, under-17 and under-18) towards the finalised IDC Squads come February. Players, coaches, managers and parents alike have attended the series of District and Specialist coaching sessions from September to December – even with rain thundering down! Post Christmas will see the final preparations in these programmes towards the national selection fixtures in February and March (please see the West Regional page on the Scottish Rugby web site for all fixtures).
The under-15 programme has been joined with the players from Glasgow South to train as the Glasgow under-15 Development Squad three times during the year – 63 players attended the two-day training camp at Hamilton Place. The under-14 programme started in the October holidays – nominated players from the clubs and schools attended a two-day camp purely focusing on the key national themes. A further nomination camp is planned for January before the selected players move forward to the Glasgow under-14 Development Squad in April. Both camps enjoyed visits from Glasgow Warriors pro players.
For more information contact Edinburgh, Midlothian & West Lothian PDM Ben Fisher at ben.fisher@sru.org.uk
In November, nominated under-14 players completed a series of four skills sessions, surrounding the key national themes, in Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire and Inverclyde and Renfrewshire. This will be followed by another four-week block in late February 2010, before the selected players come together with their Glasgow North counterparts in April.
Following the National Pathway programme in summer 2009, 60 of the most promising under-15 players in the Glasgow Region were nominated to take part in two camps in October and February 2010. Meanwhile 24 under-16 boys from the region took part in two selection sessions in September. The final 26-man squad will be selected in February 2010, before competing against the other districts in March and playing against Yorkshire and Lancashire.
From two under-17 selection sessions held in September, 57 players were nominated to go forward to the October camp held at Hamilton, followed by two further sessions in November and December. A final 22-man squad will progress to decide the squad for the 2010 Scotland U17 Development programme.This procedure has also taken place in respect of the under-18 players.
Following the Pathway under-16 games, a preliminary Caledonia under-16 squad was selected. The first trials were held at Perth RFC in October over two days with the emphasis being on development of the key national themes. The squad will be cut to around 40 players for the next session in January.
Other programmes currently running in the region are the S2 talent identification days. Clubs and schools nominate their best performers who are then invited to attend during the October and Easter holidays. This helps to select the best 15 boys in Caledonia for the national Struan rugby camp in August.
An army of specialist coaches is being compiled throughout the Midlands, focusing on kicking, scrum, throwing and scrum half passing. These coaches will help selected players who are involved within the Caledonia set-up.
More school and club coaches are seeing the benefit of the core national themes when it comes to training their squads. By using these themes it means that when players come together they are all at the same stage and adhering to similar training regimes so they can work together more easily.
In terms of the Caledonia under-18 squad, a selection match was held at Howe of Fife’s Duffus Park at the end of September. The players are currently training together on a regular basis at Perthshire and will then play matches in the early part of next season with a view to some involvement in the Scotland squad. It is a similar story with the under-17s and it is pleasing to see how the two squads are gelling.
The under-15 and under-16 Pathway squads played each other in a round-robin tournament back in August and showed that there is a lot of talent coming through.
To date, over 1000 coaches have obtained the level 1 qualification, around 200 have completed level 2 and 18 have now completed UKCC Level 3. The 2009 UKCC Level 3 course is currently underway with a further 16 coaches involved in the season long programme of study. Application details for the 2010 course are now available on the coaching section of the Scottish Rugby web site.
A number of national coaching updates have been delivered throughout the country by national / pro team / academy coaches on a variety of topics to over 400 coaches. Meanwhile, the jointly funded development officers continue to give coaching updates in their local areas on the key national coaching themes.
Work has been ongoing to develop the delivery workforce with more coach educators and course leaders trained, to ensure there is sufficient staff to deliver both UKCC and foundation / RugbyReady practical courses around the country. The new Club Coach Coordinator scheme will soon be launched which has proven to be very beneficial in Wales and England in developing coaches at club level.
Coaching Resources
Clubs and schools have all been sent copies of our Long Term Player Development Guide – for your own copy please click here to download.
New law variation cards have also been produced – should you not have received a copy from your club then please contact the RugbyReady administrator at Scottish Rugby.
We were glad to be able to thank our army of volunteer coaches and managers who help to deliver our pathway programmes, with a trip to watch Scotland v Argentina in the autumn Tests. We hope that they enjoyed the game, if not the result.
