I am about to complete my level 1 and have been asked to take charge of a group of players at my local club who are 5-6 year old (all boys at the moment), with a view to them being ready for playing mini rugby when they are old enough.

Can anybody please offer and advise and session suggestions? I have the coaching toolbox from the RFL but feel the drills/session content in it are not ideal for kids this young. At the moment the coach taking them takes them for a 50-60 min session with a 10 min warm up (stuck in the mud etc) with 30 mins relays/drills (raid the bases etc) finishing with a game of either bulldog or dodgeball to complete the session.

I don't know if the RFL coachwise website will have more resources (cannot access yet) - can anybody point me in the direction of anything or offer any advice please?

thanks in advance

Get some WWE stuff, modern league is all about the wrestling. Show them Jeff Lima's ligament adjustment finisher. They'd love that.

Just play lots of games - our youngest at Bury love that and it's all about keeping the group together and very very very basic skills - if they involve the rugby ball then great.

Ayres Rock on these forums coaches the group at Langworthy Reds so may be worth a PM.

Go on Youtube - loads of drills / rugby games on there

Keep it fun with lots of games is IMO the ultimate rule

Like said above, keep it fun and keep em moving.

One thing the coach does for the nippers at our club is gets them all round a big tree to try to push it down (helps there stretching etc)

And get them crashing into tackle pads and shields, they love that

Thinking of getting the pads and shields out next week, would be their first time on them. Didn't know if I should be concentrating on ball work and or evasion as not many of them seem able to catch/pass but I suppose mixing it up is the best option to keep them interested.

thanks

As has been said, plenty of small games to keep them moving and running. I'd say at that age to do lots of different activities that each don't take that long since their attention span wont be very long and you don't want them bored.

It's great to use the pads every now and again but I'd definitely concentrate on small games that involve handling and small amounts of passing. The more they handle and get used to a rugby ball the better, most other things can be learnt when they're older but it's never too early to start getting used to a rugby ball.

Don't overtrain them, concentration is limited. Mix it up, lots of praise and share the workload. Make sure they all get a run with the ball. My lads (now 10 and 13) always loved it when the coach ended the session with a game of British Bulldog (if they were good in training).

Not sure where you live but if you're in the Wigan area go down to St Judes for 10.30 on a Saturday morning and watch the youngsters being put through training drills.

Alternatively if you're the correct side of the Pennines pop over to Kirkstall on a Saturday morning for 10am

Check out:
you tube for videos
Sportplan website where you can get 15 free drills a month
Look for the RLCM coaching books on the web, they're free to download
Also rlcoaching.co.UK has some downloadable content particularly for building initial foundation skills

Teach them how to cheat. Michael Maguire might give you a hand. Failing that, try Jeff Lima or any one from the town of Wigan

Thanks for all the advise, will probably try get to a session over the next couple of weeks to see how the others do it and what to expect from the group.

Anybody any thoughts on contact and tackling? As things stand they generally finish with a game of bulldog - and they love it, and every now and again have a "game" but this tends to be 10-15 a side and taking it in turns to run with the ball and invariably you have either the bigger faster kid who runs round the outside or the slower more timid kid who freeze's and I am not sure how much good this is doing.

I thought maybe a 1 v 1 tackle tunnel type drill maybe at walking pace to start with to try and get some basic technique into them and build confidence?

Yep, with contact introduce it nice and slowly, too much contact too early can really put off a lot of kids. If there's always 1 kid running through in the game at the end of training, introduce a rule where teams cant score until they've passed the ball 3 times (although that might be a bit too much for that age group) or if possible use another coach to stay with and encourage the "timid" kids and actively giving them the ball.
I would say building confidence is the main aim by far at this age though, or at most ages for that matter.

I'd say keep contact to bags and shields and work on correct technique over and over and over. Kids love to hit the bags and its a nice introduction to feeling contact and impact on and around their shoulders, chest & arms.

Find some drills that help them understand the importance of teamwork in defence, line speed & communication. One of the most common errors from younger players is standing still as a defensive line and they'll continue to do it even after you've drilled them for weeks but eventually the work will pay off.

Away from contact I try to do as much with ball in hand as possible even if they're just running, as long as they carry correctly, pass correctly if they do pass etc then it's good skill development without actualy drilling for it.

Try to make as much of it games rather than drills. At all junior grades, focus should be on fun, but especially so with younger age groups. Remember, it's about skills development, not about winning matches.

I coached young kids from the age of three right through to eight.

The most important bit of coaching you can give at that age is handling. Unfortunately, I see kids who are nine and ten year old now (who have been playing a while) and they still don't have the basic skills.

If you can, ensure every player has a ball and then everything that you do, make sure it is with a ball. For example, a warm-up run - take a ball. Generally, kids at that age don't really need to warm-up and definitely no static stretching. Use warm-up games to switch their minds on more than anything else.

Again, at that age, start with evasion. Bulldogs is great, but if you have a lot of kids, it can turn into a bit of a safety nightmare.

Once most of the kids have the basic handling techniques, i.e. they can catch and make a simple pass, then move onto contact.

This is also a key stage as many coaches think that all kids can tackle straight away.

The best way to get the technique correctly (in my opinion) is to steal the RFU's 'tackle continuum'. This is where the tackle is built up over a number of stages. I'll try to summarise:
1 - Static tackle on knees (to get correct body position)
2 - Moving tackle on knees
3 - Walking tackle
4 - Jogging tackle and then pick up the pace.

Obviously pads and bags are good (and are fun) but how many times will a player tackle something that is soft and stationery?? The most important thing with tackling is to build up the player's confidence and remember this will not be at the same time amongst all players.

As has been previously mentioned, play lots of games and make sure that kids are kept involved at all times. i.e. don't have a queue of 16 players waiting to do a drill as the kids will get bored and distracted. Break them down into four groups of four.

The most important thing to remember is to make sure the kids have fun.

Drop me a PM if you like to discuss further.

Agility, Balance and Coordination games and exercises should form the bulk of your sessions as well as team building and communication. Focus on building the 'person' and the 'athlete' before the Rugby player, the age of trainability to teach these physical competences including proper running technique is vital as otherwise they will never reach their true potential. Use the game of rugby simply as a tool to deliver these skills ......oh and fun, fun, fun!!

See PM.

For contact skills, get them used to being in contact with the floor and falling to the ground which is an unnatural experience at first and needs to be practiced to build confidence. Wrestling games on knees are good as well as 'knee Rugby' for developing confidence and technique in the tackle.

Spot on Richie, GiantMisterE & Seth! Its pleasing to see some coaches who aren't all about winning the next game!

Will reply in more detail later, but thanks to all who have posted so far.

I coach under 7s at the minute at that age you really teach them the basics how to tackle, how to pass etc you can also bring abit of fun into by doing some games get them thinking, working as a team and also get them running around.

Thanks for the advice, appreciate you taking the time to let me know.

It's the games bit that I am struggling for inspiration for. I have stuck in the mud, raid the bases and cops and robbers (variation of tag along the lines of stuck in the mud). Finishing off with a game of bulldog, but i am concerned that the bulldog is a safety issue and could lead to injury or the weaker kids being put off.

Any input would be appreciated, I am scouring the RFU website and other union ones - its sad that the RFL provide so little relevent resources or at least have done up to now.

thanks