U8s

Welcome to U8s (Born 2004)

 

Please contact Philip Browne on 087-2536724  for details

Training every Sunday from10am to 11am. Please have respect for you coaches and team mates by arriving on time. Any child that arrives after 10am will not be allowd to take part in the session.

We are located at the far end of the main pitch on Castle Ave.

• Despite numerous requests parents are still arriving late for training. Due to the large number of kids this causes a huge problem when it comes to organising groups at the start of a session.
• Parents MUST stay pitch side during training and be on hand to help out with their child when asked.

• All our Coaches are Trained and Certified by Leinster Rugby Football.
• All Coaches are Garda Vetted.
• First Aiders on the pitch at all times.

Without the help of all the coaches who turn up every Sunday and give their time we could not do what we do. If you feel like you would like to get involved just let me know. You’re going to be standing around anyway so why not make some new friends and join the ever growing team while your there. If you feel your child needs more help the best thing you can do is join in. All coches got involved to help bring their kids on and take my word for it, it works. All a child wants to do is impress Dad and Mom. We encourage all parents to make sure their child is on their team with them during training.

NEWS

Sunday 12th February

• Please checked here every Sunday morning at 9am for notifications of cancellations due to weather conditions.

Sunday 5th February

• A good morning of rugby had by all this morning, wish we could say the same for this afternoons match against Wales   Anyway the pitch at Castle Ave wasnt in the best of shape as a result of the weeks weather and yeaterdays match however the kids didnt seem to mind, infact at some stations I think we may have had a competition to see who could get the most muck on them. With the addition of some new coaches we are now able to offer a raito of approx 1 coach to every 6 kids giving them a great opportunity to learn all the skills they will need to enjoy the game of Rugby.

Sunday 29th January

• Training canclled this week due to heavy rain the pitches at Castle Ave are unplayable.

Sunday 22nd January

• Cold enough this week due to a strong wind and a few cold hands out there. Please Mammy & Daddy don’t send your child out in shorts at this time of year. We try not to have them standing around too much but it is unavoidable at times. I cant but be amazed at how fast these kids pick up things. This was only our second week with the “Ruck” and already most of them have the idea. See you all next week.

Sunday 15th January

• This weekend we have started to teach the “Ruck” for the first time. With the help of some new drills fingers crossed the kids will get the idea quick enough.

Sunday 8th January

• Back to training this week. As per our training agenda we will be moving along now and getting ready for up and coming matches. We are also planning a match against a team from Italy in April who will be visiting Ireland.

Sunday 18th December

• Unfortunately due to the frost we had to call of training today for safety reasons, the pitches would be far to hard of the kids to fall on without causing injury. See you all in the new year.

Sunday 11th December

• This didn’t turn out to be anyway near as cold as anticipated and the turn out reflected the same. We changed things up a little today with some new drills and ideas. One of these you may have witnessed was the “Clontarf Haka” Ask your kid to do it for you. It was a great feeling to see all those kids standing there shouting at the top of the voice “KNEES, HIPS, SHOULDERS, HEAD” apart from having a bit of fun this Haka is designed to teach the kids the correct way to fall, knees first,  then hips,  then shoulders,  and finally to protect their head.

Next weekend is our final session before Christmas so we will try and do something a bit different. I haven’t decided what yet but we might do a mini blitz and a tug-o-war with the kids against the coaches and the parents.

See you all next week.

Philip.

Sunday 4th December

OMG !!! What a morning we had this morning. To say it was cold would be an understatement. The biggest problem we were faced with was cold hands. We all know what its like and how painful it is when your hands are frozen and we had a few very unhappy kids as a result. The problem is that there isn’t a lot as a parent or a coach we can do. We try to keep the kids moving and also try and get them to move their fingers non stop. Most gloves will just hold onto the water and make things worse and also make it very hard to hold on to a ball. There are some gloves on the market that may do the job. To this end I have ordered a few different pair of these gloves for some kids to try out. I will give a full report on our findings next week if they arrive in time for Sunday. In saying all that it is still very important to dress the kids in the correct gear. LIDL will be selling Kids lined skiing gloves at €2.99 which will do fine, granted handling the ball will be somewhat hard but we don’t really care about that as long as the kids are happy. Also Long Johns under the tracksuit is a great idea.

To my surprise and amazement a number of  kids arrived to training in shorts and t-shirts ???? While Mam or Dad stood on from the side line in overcoats, gloves, hats, scarf and the obligatory cup of Costa Coffees finest blend (not to mention the odd one sitting in the car with the heat up full blast and a copy of the Sunday paper spread out across the steering wheel) ……..NOW Mammy,….. Daddy….. That’s a big  NO, NO…. So come on lets put the shorts away for a few months……

See you all next week Warm and Snuggle.

Philip

Sunday 27th November

• Were back to our normal location on the main pitch at Castle Ave this week and the cold winter weather has joined us also, so dress warm. Its best if you dress the kids in layers so they can remove an item or two as they start to warm up. We try to gear our sessions with as little standing around as possible.

Sunday 20th November

• Due to the Leinster match today the club has moved one of its fixtures to an earlier time, as a result we will be moving to the DCC Astro beside clontarf Dart station at our normal time of  10am. See you all there.
  

Sunday 6th November

• It has been brought to my attention that at the end of this weeks training session a seven year old child was stopped by one of my coaches walking down the lane on his own. When asked where he was going he said that his Dad told him to walk out to the main road where he would pick him up. As you can imagine this is not acceptable. All children must be dropped off on the pitch, parents must wait around while training is on and then collect their child from the pitch after. The lane from the club to the main road is dangerous PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW CHILDREN TO USE THIS LANE ON THEIR OWN.

Sunday 23rd October

Training as normal this Sunday all pitches open. Dont forget to bring a Gum Shield and if your not registered than please do so upstairs in the bar.

Sunday 16rd October

• Training called off this Sunday due to Rugby world Cup Final.

 Sunday 9th October

• The kids are really getting the hang of things now which is great to see. We have designed new drills this season in order to focus on the key points that need to be taught. The idea is to teach the skill in a way that is enjoyable and fun and without the players loosing interest and getting bored (sounds easy doesn’t it, guess again). Many thanks to Darren and Cathal who joined us this weekend to answer the call and also to Gavin. Their addition to the squad is a great boost as the more coaches we have the better the ratio we can provide and therefore the better we can get the massage through faster and better. In saying that we still need all the help we can get. See you all next Sunday.

Sunday 2nd October

• Due to the Ireland V Italy match this morning we were a little late kicking off with training but no one seemed too bothered. Today saw the interdiction of full tackling. This was a big step for everybody not least of all the coaches as the last thing anybody wants to see is an injury. But with all the training the coaches have gone through during last year by the Leinster Rugby and during the off season I’m delighted to say all went great. The kids took to it like a duck to water and to stand back and see these kids playing like real players was fabulous. The feed back from all coaches during the after training briefing was very, very positive. Thank you also to all the parents who approached the coaches after training to complement the progression from last week to this week. Three new parents were approached this week and have agreed to help out going forward. We also have a number of kids who are not engaging and while we will do our best to bring them along it is impossible to provide one to one coaching due to our large numbers. If you feel your child needs more help the best way is to join us. All coaches got involved to help bring their kids on and take my word for it, it works. All a kid wants to do is impress Dad or Mom. We encourage all parents to make sure their child is on their team with them during training.

Sunday 25th September

• Were settling in nicely to the season with our forth week under the belt. We broke to 70 mark with the number of kids arriving this week. With these kind of numbers it is imperative that everyone arrives on time. If I could ask that everyone tries to be ready to start at 0950. It’s very very hard to sort out groups when 10 to 15 kids arrive ten to 15 minutes late. Also due to the very large numbers I’m asking again if anybody would like to get involved please let me know.

Sunday 18th September

• Week three and the number of kids turning up on a Sunday morning continues to grow which is great news. However with the rise in numbers we need even more than ever that Mums and Dads join in and lend a hand. Something as small as holding a tackle bag or keeping a line of kids in order would be great. However if anybody would like to get more involved please let me know. See you all next Sunday if you don’t fall back asleep again after getting up at 6am to watch Ireland beat Russia.

Sunday 11th September

• Week two and we were met with some very tired kids not to mention some very tired parents also due to the early kick off to the Irish Rugby World Cup Campaign. Looking out the window at 9.30 that morning I’m sure that many a person hoped beyond hope that the phone would go off with the text to cancel that days training. I’m afraid that text never came Sorry !!! The wind died down and training carried on without even a drop of rain. The kids were introduced to the concept of tackling for the first time which went very well due to the controlled manner in which all coaches demonstrated the technique. We also introduced the practice of going to ground when tackled as opposed to just passing the ball as was the case before. The kids took to this very quickly and from our point of view it was great due to the fact that the child nearest the ball would take the ball and run with it. By doing this it does away with the issue of only pals passing to each other and also gives the weaker kids a better chance to get more involved. We could still do with help for you guys standing on the side lines and its up to you how involved you would like to get, from holding a tackle bag, helping to control a match or even getting me a coffee !!!

See you all next week.

Sunday 4th September

• Our first day back and while we expected large numbers going by last year we were pleasantly surprised at the number of childern that turned up for the first day. Let’s hope this is a sign of things to come. With the World Cup upon us the interest in rugby is really building.

If you require any further information please contact me at the number above.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES.

Regards, Philip.

 

All existing players must register in September to participate and be covered by Club Insurance. Registered players receive a season boot tag which must be laced into their boots.