Top Tips for Girls U12 Tag Rugby

Simon JonesCoach, England

Gary

I have just started (last night) coaching a girls Under 16 team and for the first session I worked them in a number of key skills (passing catching and kicking) making sure the practices were fun and interesting.

Then we went to a game of tag rugby netball - passing in any direction but scoring in the normal way. We then introduced backwards passing in the game and the girls all enjoyed the session which took 90 mins.

The key then is to mix skills and games and to get the girls to work together to solve small problems/tasks.

I wish you luck

Simon

Gary DCoach, Northern Ireland

Hi All,

Have been doing a bit of my own research and so far found these links which have some useful basics also.

http://www.coachingrugby.com/tag/laws/laws.htm

http://www.irishrugby.ie/tagrugby/15242_home.php

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/3623_beginning-rugby-how-to-pass.htm

Gary DCoach, Northern Ireland

Hi All,

Just a quick update -

Have noticed, as others have mentioned in other posts the tempo of the session has to be very high in order to maintain interest. Lots of improvised variation on drills and variety of drills to keep them thinking and the chatter down!

Game play has been in a large grid and have been using the "railway line" layout to keep them in position and to stop the bunching round the ball. Although it is "tag rugby" we haven't actually used the tag belts as they tend to get in the way and are a distraction almost at this stage (people fussing over whos got tags and whos not/trying to replace tag belts etc), instead we have just been playing touch.

A bit of a revelation was teaching the side step early on, which seemed to give them the confidence to run at opponents, they certainly have the speed of feet and thought for this to make a big difference to the quality of play.

The concept of going forward / gaining ground but passing backwards remains a challenge. To help develop the idea we came up with dividing the large grid (approx 15m x 40m) into horizontal sections (approx 5) which they start at one of, and only progress into the next "level" after completing a set number of passes. As they move up the levels so does the number of passes increase to gain them access accross, only after obtaining the relevant number of passes in the last "level" are they allowed to score.

Keep you posted on developments - any one else doing tag over the Summer? (if thats what you call it! weather in UK has been a bit of a wash out lately!).