Does any body have any thoughts /plan on player rotaion between A,B,C teams. U9's

Rugby CoachCoach

Conor, Boys develop at differing speeds. Now that you have started tackling, you find that the bigger boys who were useless at tag are now starting to find their level and using their weight to their advantage. If you continue with an A, B, C squad system a lot of players will get fed up and will be lost at U12 and onwards, which I suggest is not in the long term interest of the club. Are you trying to produce the best U9 side around? if so is anyone really bothered. Surely the aim should be long term so you are able to have a squad and be able to field the best U15 onwards side in the region. Players will only improve to the overall competence level of the team/squad. thus you are putting the B & C squads at a disadvantage. I recommend you mix them up. Its sometimes better to lose a few games for their long term development

michael walshCoach, England

Conor,have just finished a season with u9 now at u10.What I suggest is that drills and skills are inclusive.Then play the forwards v the backs with subs to come on at half time which should keep the games inclusive.This should incorporate A B AND C OVERALL. I allways based the teams on skills and then asking some of the top players to play with the C team to help them organise and let the good b c players move up a level and let them know that wheen thy rejoin their group you expect a vast improvement.Having had 70 +chaps at u10 we still have the same numbers and players and they recognise the skills and speed required to play A B OR C.To be honest the kids just want to play and as long as the coaches move between the teams to show that the kids are equally important then you will find a happy medium.

Rugby CoachCoach

Can I just say how much I support David's answer above as regards squad rotation, and could I add a bit about positional rotation. I have an 8 year old at the age level you are talking about - he isn't the best player at the club by any means, but has his good moments. He loves watching the game, he has a good understanding of the way it is played (to the extent that he has often shouted at the telly over recent weeks at some of our illustrious stars when they're out of position) and he has good handling skills - to be honest he's just not brave enough in the tackle yet, but I know it'll come so I'm not making a big thing of it. However, he and a couple of others are constantly stuck on the wing, and are getting fed up with the fact that they don't get the opportunity to get involved much. The coaches seem to have their "big names" and as you say seem more interested in the short term aims of winning each game rather than trying to keep the lads interested and challenged each week. I know he's aware that I think they should move them all around, although I have made a point of not criticising the coaches at all. He has mentioned about moving to another club, where he may or may not get more of a chance to shine, but I am not sure this is the right move as it may teach him to give up rather than sticking with something. Any thoughts please?

Rugby CoachCoach

All Thank you for your responses to the above question. Phil, i would suggest that if at all possible try and stick with the club as club is more important than team. this sense of Club is one of the main reasons why we tend to have problems with the Southern Hemisphere teams.(not at U9 of course %3A-) ) All the main issues that we have is that our under 9 team has been pretty much all conquering since U7. the A team has only lost a few matches in 3 years. Our B teams usually gives other A teams a good run for their money as well. AS regards rotation witinh a team the research that I have done does point to all players must be swapped in and out of positions. there is a reasonable argument the the biggers kids stay in the forwards and as there is only 3 positions at this level it is usually not too hard to mange this as these kids don't really want to run about on the wing. They are just staring to enjoy their rugby after 2 years of TAG. I will attach some documents on this later to support this. The half backs and backs must be rotated to give players a chance. Winning is important and as much as the continium point to playing rugby for fun, the kids have an inbuilt will to win and thats before the coaches and parents get involved. As coaches we want to win aswell. It is trying to balance this winning with full inclusion that poses the problem. As we have put in place a structure of A,B,C teams that is working from a match success point of view I am trying to investigate how we can put in place a fair system to allow kids to get to the A team level which is what they strive to achieve but not at the expense of those who are currently in position and deserve to be as well as their hardwork , skill and commitment has kept the team as successful as it is. the vision that I have in mind is that 30% of the B team are good enough to play for the A team so there should be some sort of rotation here where the kids from the A team do not feel that they are being dropped but are being rotated. this would equally work between the B and C team. renaming teams to read, green ,blue may help this a bit or some other teams names that are non higherarchicial in their naming. This would mean that kids can move between teams without feeling that the are dropped. i will work a bit more on the rotation idea and post it here were done.I think michael walsh (above) is already doing the rotation idea. i like the idea of giving the players a chance with a specific objective to better themselves once they get the chance. best regards conor