JUNIOR REPORT: School tournaments are back

There are a number of plans in place to reach as many children as possible, but one thing that was certainly a success last season was the quantity and quality of school tournaments the club hosted and this season is no exception.

This week the club held a Scarborough & Ryedale District 10s tournament, as well as its first primary school tag tournament of the season, with over 15 different primary schools in attendance.

It was fantastic to see so many young players having the chance to play for their schools, which is not something they get to do very often.

As always, the public are more than welcome to attend these tournaments so I’ve listed the dates of these below:

Tuesday November 3

Year 7 (4-6pm)

Thursday November 5

Year 9 (4-6pm)

Thursday November 12

Year 8 (4-6pm)

Thursday November 19

Year 10 (4-6pm)

Tuesday November 24

Year 9 (4-6pm)

Thursday November 26

Year 7 (4-6pm)

Tuesday December 1

Year 8 (4-6pm)

Tuesday December 8

Year 10 (4-6pm)

Thursday December 10

Year 11 (4-6pm)

Tuesday January 5

Year 11 (4-6pm)

Primary school tag tournaments:

Wednesday November 18 (4–6pm) and Wednesday March 16 (4-6pm)

Teams from Scalby, Filey, Graham, Scarborough College and St Augustine’s all took to the field on Tuesday and played exceptionally well.

I’m delighted that in each of these secondary schools (as well as Pindar), there are plenty of staff passionate about rugby and welcome to the idea of my assistance.

I will hopefully begin to offer my services as a coach to these fantastic schools over the next fortnight and I always enjoy this part of my job.

I love seeing children take to my sessions, watching their enjoyment always makes me feel the work I do is worthwhile.

At Scarborough RUFC we cater for all abilities and age grades, from under-sixs to under-18s and this is the same service I offer to all schools I work in.

No two sessions are the same, and each day I offer different ways to participate in the sport and enjoy it.

I’m not one to rest on my laurels though, and I appreciate that I must continuously adapt and change in order to provide the best service I possibly can, to our schools and for Scarborough RUFC.

I’m also well aware that views from the outside are just as helpful as constructive feedback from within, so if you have any ideas to expand the Active Youth Development programme so we can reach more of our youth please feel free to get in touch with me at [email protected]

I’m always open to new ideas.

I often talk about how much of a pleasure it is to coach players that are humble and want to learn more about rugby.

If I can offer any advice to our young players out there, it would be to listen to your coaches and try to implement what they ask of you.

You’ll find these coaches then go the extra mile for you if they can.

The current Scarborough Sixth Form Rugby Academy team is a testament to this. Each player is eager to learn, understands when to work hard and they always take my advice on board.

This coming Sunday our minis will be back training in preparation for our first home tournament of the season the following week.

As well as this, every single junior side has a game this weekend and three of these fixtures will be at home.

So from around 10:30am until 1pm, there is plenty of rugby to watch at Silver Royd.

Hopefully we’ll see you there.

Thanks for reading,

Tom