All about junior rugby and BK Rama
View(s):Sri Lanka won the Asian Rugby Football Union under 19 Division 2 tournament played recently in Kaohsiung Chinese Taipei. They returned triumphantly sans a red carpet. Sri Lanka beat Thailand (24-20) and Singapore (31-0) convincingly and emerged winners of the Division 2. Sri Lanka will be promoted to Division 1 next year and play alongside Japan, Hong Kong and Korea.
At the Asian Youth Games played in Nanjing China the Under 18 team finished 5th ahead of China, Korea, Philippines and Kazakhstan. Hong Kong won the Gold while Thailand won the Silver and Japan the Bronze. Sri Lanka who beat China and Philippines on day 1 and 2 lost to Chinese Taipei in the quarter-final for the Gold.
The National team is in the Asian 5Nations and the Under 19 gets back to Division 1 next year. A pleasing performance by the under 18 team appears that the ladder for better national rugby is being built solid. Another point of note is that both junior teams were coached by Sri Lankans.
When talking of Junior Rugby B.K Ramachandran is a name that props up. The name is always written when St Peters talk of rugby. Rama or BK as he was popularly known is accredited as the father of mini and midi rugby at St Peters. BK takes pride of the work he did in Sabaragamuwa and the foundation he laid resulted in a number of them representing the country at Rugby. The region also produced two of the women’s rugby captains and also the two women referees. He also contributed to the spread of rugby in Uva, and Ruhuna.
Rama could be a seen at many rugby matches and would also take the opportunity of cornering you to explain the need to improve skills and that it has to be at Mini and Midi Rugby. He wants the local world of rugby to know that it is the improvement of skills that are important and not to win at any cost as seen at some junior matches.
Junior rugby is an important part for producing top players for the future. The junior coach plays an important role in laying the correct rugby foundations. Rama will always stress on the need for introduction of skill at the junior level and advises that the fight for a win and a trophy is not what is needed. He proudly talks of the number of National Players who learnt the basics under him at St Peters and at Sabaragamuwa Uva and Ruhuna.
BK says that the junior coach can feel unsure where to start as the skills, rules and drills have to be taught to the young players and coaches must not make the mistake of trying to teach too much, too quickly. This results in the basics not being properly learnt and makes later development more difficult and leaves young players uncertain and confused. The worst is when you stress of the need to win while not concentration on the skills.
That is why you see a child mountain used to bulldoze his way to the try line failing at the higher level. The physical effort is useful at the junior level peers may have not grown yet. When you reach the next levels others grow up and are a challenge while Gulliver who has not been drilled in the skills finds it difficult
Each junior age group will have a different skills set and level of understanding that they need to have to learnt in order to effectively progress to the next level and learn the skills and concepts effectively.
When coaching junior rugby it is important to know the various stages that they go through and what your coaching focus should be during this phase.
Coaching emphasis on fun and basics should be the focus foe 5-9 year old kids. For effectively coaching very young players you have to understand their mental and physical level. The span of concentration is short and you have to keep changing the games or continually make things more fun but still make sure they are taught the basic skills. They are enthusiastic and excited, so coaching tries to be lively and fun. Reward them with high fives and cheering, as they love these types of things. They will struggle to understand the team work concept, so don’t get too disappointed if they aren’t passing along the line or if they go for a run by themselves. This will continue until the age of 9 where they suddenly seem to start understanding – working as a team.
For the 10-12 years olds there should be emphasis on skill and structure. This age group will still respond well to fun games, however, they now want to know how these games are going to affect their rugby. This is the time to bring in isolation skills and start practicing skills for improvement in the different areas of the game.
As kids grow and reach 13-17 year bucket – emphasis is on technique and tactics. This can be seen as the final stage of coaching junior rugby. In this stage the players are mentally ready to learn the sides of the game. They are interested in how the game as a whole can be made to their advantage. Therefore tactical decision making plays a big role. They are keen to learn how they can contribute to the team and the game. The challenge is the continuation of coaching the basics skills and their repetition learnt though all the development stages.
Rama recalls the era where a video was not heard of and the technical committees none existent, the closest luxury was a book. He fondly remembers Archibald Perera who coached St Peters form 1956 to 1982 producing many of the better known rugby players of that era while imparting the skills which helped him too.
Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB
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