Rugby activity day & Youth Coaching Course Huge success!!

28/2/2014

On Thursday 13th and Friday 14th of February 6 candidates were involved in the Youth coaching course taking place at Orkney RFC. The 5 modules undertaken in the course were – Simply coaching, it’s all about planning, playing it safe, the professional touch and Coaching/Refereeing awards. The course was from 10am – 3:30pm on the Thursday and from 9:30am – 3pm on Friday and was conducted by ORFC development officer Bruce Ruthven who commented:

“Course candidates Ryan Arcus, James Nicolson, Beth Thomson, Daria Byers, Hannah Stead and Keira Johnston all did exceptionally well throughout the 2 days. On the Thursday the candidates worked through their Youth coaching course booklet which provided all the theory/background of the course. On the Friday they got a chance to test these skills on their practical elements by helping or assisting with the Rugby activity day. Thanks to all Youth coaching course candidates who did a fantastic job and helped contribute towards the youngsters enjoying the Rugby activity day. Well done to all!”

“I learned a lot from the course and I now appreciate how difficult it is for coaches. I hope I do more coaching in future.” - Keira Johnston

“I thoroughly enjoyed the course and I feel I’ve learned lots. Working with the children was a tiring but rewarding experience.” - James Nicolson

The course ran very smoothly and all 6 members were focused and keen to learn new skills of coaching. Hopefully we will see each of them help out in future.

Moving on to the Rugby Activity Day which took place on Friday 14th February indoors at the Pickaquoy centre.

The day kicked off with a huge 52 P1-3s all involved with the action. All kids registered in at 9:45am at Orkney RFC so we could get started on time. The session ran from 10am – 11:30am. There was lots of activity and you could see by the kid’s expressions they were having a great time! The hall was split into 4 stations which involved scoring tries, relay races, Stadium ball, piggy in the middle etc. The session was a great success and ran very smoothly as everyone was focused and having fun!

Moving on to the 16 P4 – 7s who all took part in the afternoon session from 1pm – 2:30pm. All participants registered in at 12:45pm once again at Orkney RFC.

Being the more experienced age group, coaches were able to bring in more complex exercises/games such as tackling technique, corner ball, Rugby goose and a huge game of stadium ball. Everyone showed they have many skills within the rugby game and we hope to see to a similar standard at the next training day. Once again this session was very successful as everyone was willing and keen to learn.

A huge thank you to all coaches but the day couldn’t have been such a success without every one of the kids who took part! Hope to see everyone sticking in at their rugby to keep improving!!

Report by SRU + ORFC MA Mark Sinclair.