Usausa,
I'm helping coach a high school team for the first time as well and find myself in the exact same battles. Is there any rugby below the high school level in Mass? In Colorado, we have something called Try Rugby that runs all the way down to U7s. There are different law variations for the various ages and it only ends up being 7s on a smaller pitch even at the U14 level, but it does get the kids running with the ball in hand and some experience with the basics. I've thought of starting a Try team through a local sporting organization and then using those kids a few years later to start a high school aged club. I'm having a blast helping coach the current team, but I'd really prefer to coach some more skills, focus more on games than drills and most importantly teach the kids how to think for themselves out there than micromanage them from the sidelines.
MYRO (the SBO for the state at youth level) is doing a really good job at trying to promote and encourage the "Rookie Rugby" program, so it is slowly starting to become more commonplace. They wanted to come to our town, I gave our head coach the necessary contacts but have heard nothing since. If the state goes to inner city kids and all over and is successful, who's to blame for us not getting on it?.....
As I'm sure you know, it's only as strong as the volunteers. Now I respect all the people volunteering their time no doubt, but in the same aspect how good of a service are we if we just consistently give the ball the big all the time and solely rely on it. There are some clubs that run youth levels all the way down but few, most of the youth initiative is through our state organization. It helps to get kids interested and hopefully build a base of athletes that consider playing rugby. We get a lot of senior football players (the good football players never played before because they were discouraged to by the football coach if you can believe it) and they are not only fascinated but love the game! A lot of them especially enjoy the fact that they can play 35mins and not really have to deal/interact with coaches, they get to take responsibility for their play and get to work it out amongst themselves, a huge tool for life!
http://www.myrugby.org/site/ClientSite/article/72094
I'd say this club has the best offering of youth programs:
http://www.bulldogrugby.com/
norcal, I have the same coaching philosophy as you. Rugby is a continuous game where players need to be able to think and take responsibility on their own, and it has to be a culture cultivated in practice. At the high school level, I think too many coaches don't give the kids enough credit, they underestimate their abilities to understand, comprehend, problem solve, etc. Currently my main issue (aside from now being limited to only Fridays due to work commitments) is disagreeing on philosophy, how to teach, play game, etc. We have 5 coaches for a team of 20 boys, although we never usually get all 5 and 20 at once. And all 5 of us have different techniques or ways of teaching/explaining things so it's becomes a messy practice, wasting time. We need to do a better job at getting all of us on the same page so that we can support the head coach. I've been involved with senior club stuff for the past couple of years so I have a unique look on different things like rucking technique than some of the other guys who are more old school kind of just get low and smash (which in my experience/opinion isn't always the most effective). Our head coach is a certified ref so he adds a unique take in that he knows the laws inside out as they're written although our interpretations are different.
For our international readers, just to put in perspective, the coaching courses here that our educating new coaches like myself in comparison to those abroad? Here's a bit from someone on a facebook group I'm in. One could say this could account for the quality disparity.
...the coaching courses are a waste of money, the level 2 or 300 as itis now, was a joke compared to the IRB same course. I took the IRB Level 300 course in the UK when I was there for the contract I did, it was four intense weekends. I come back to the US, take the same course which is one Saturday???? Needless to say the US course was rubbish compared to the one run by the RFU in England. I did however get a manual from both!
And another...
The $150 was to register the club. Add an additional $60 for ref and coach combined. The level 200 was a waste of time and money. $90 for the course....$200 for hotel...$70 for gas and a total of 8 hours driving. I've been involved in rugby for 40 years now as coach, ref, player here and in Europe. No check of the audience for level 200 to guage the experience level. I launched a 2 page critique to USA Rugby. Oh yea...the manual they promised never showed up but the instructors failed to let us know. I asked at the end and said it didn't show at their hotel. Come on guys, have the courtesy of telling us that it didn't arrive and how you were resolving it!
And another...
I didn't CIPP as a coach this year, as I damned if I'm getting re-certified & paying more monies. I reached Level 3 IRB & old Level 3 here, & retook the Level 2 course after they revamped it. But, no more. It is an absolute rip off.
The Level 200 I took was nothing in terms of rocket science, basically if you've ever played rugby it's an easy pass here. The real "value" came from interacting with other coaches during down times and talking techniques, tactics, how to improve our teams. USA Rugby does a poor job offering a real good coach education based on my experience. We have no idea where any of our money goes (probably 90% of it to senior side) when we should be investing in coach education and youth development.
*EDIT I don't mean to drag this so off topic but people wonder why our age grade results are so varied and up and down, this is a huge part of it. The one time we win it the tournament's held in June when everyone in the States is out of school and available!
