OPINION: Rugby Southland on right track with festival approach
There aren’t many sporting issues in recent times that have caused as much angst as the decision by a number of codes to do away with junior representative teams, including here in Southland.
Netball, football and rugby are amongst the sports now opting to replace junior representative programmes with more inclusive formats.
The aims are clear. Keep as many children as engaged in sport for as long as possible. Avoid the perils associated with early specialisation. Give children more opportunities to have fun with their friends – by the far the biggest reasons for them wanting to be involved in sport in the first place.
We need to do something. The drop off in numbers of children engaging in traditional sport is trending the wrong way. And we know that when children drop out of traditional sport, more often than not, they are dropping out of being physically active altogether.
On the other side of the coin, there is little evidence to suggest that, some exceptions aside, hot-housing a young athlete will lead to success at adult level. Actually there’s a good chance they will burn out, get injured or just wander off and won’t be involved in sport at all.
With all that in mind, it doesn’t feel like this issue should be particularly controversial – but, by heck, it is.
Former Silver Fern Marg Foster was one particularly vocal opponent when Mainland Netball opted to take a player development approach over its traditional Year 7 and 8 representative teams two years ago.
She believed young netballers would miss out on a valuable lesson about success and failure, and their resilience would suffer as a result.
Foster deserves respect in the netball world, and it’s a fair argument.
Getting selected in a representative team is obviously a great short-term feeling, but it doesn’t guarantee ongoing success, or even ongoing involvement - otherwise you might as well just select the All Blacks from the New Zealand schoolboys team. Everyone else can go home.
Rugby hit the headlines earlier this year when North Harbour became the first New Zealand union to confirm it was not fielding an under 14 team or hosting a junior representative tournament.
Harbour general manager David Gibson told Stuff that the decision had received a great deal of negative feedback, but had not been taken lightly.
"It's a conversation that promotes a lot of emotion, but for us it traces back to what the evidence is saying. Really there's a lot of information out there that backs up some of these decisions, we feel,” he said.
"There's a lot of other sports, so we don't feel like we're alone in this, but we appreciate it's a significant decision for a lot of people."
Rugby Southland is trialling an under 14 rugby festival in August and September, and is hoping to attract both playing and non-playing children.
While Otago and Canterbury have opted for a more traditional model with clubs nominating participants, Rugby Southland development officer Peter Firth has designed the festival to be as inclusive as possible.
“I’ve had some good discussions with people about this. People have been concerned about under 14 rugby being taken away. We’ve already had about 26 kids signed up, from various areas and various ages, which is really great. If we get 100 kids I’ll consider that a success, but I’m hoping we get 200.”
Over five weeks children will attend a maximum of three sessions, at venues including Gore, Invercargill, Mossburn and Winton.
Participants will develop rugby’s core skills, learn about nutrition, have some very basic strength and conditioning and be involved in discussions about life off the football field with Sports Chaplain Shane Auld.
“Yes, we are focusing on the player, but we are really focusing on the person as well,” Firth said.
Ultimately, the programme has been designed to raise skills and ability, giving children increased confidence, building relationships with other children across Southland in a fun environment.
Parents will be encouraged to get involved and coaches will get the chance to work with other coaches.
“We’ll be talking more about how to coach, rather than what to coach. Gone are the days when we just get kids to run laps,” Firth said.
This Rugby Southland pilot aligns with Sport NZ’s Balance is Better approach to talent development, which seeks to dispel the three myths that early specialisation is good, that childhood success leads to adult success or that successful athletes focus on winning.
According to the Balance is Better approach: “Athletes need balance. If we are to develop athletes who perform consistently as senior athletes, for longer, our development programmes have to be more holistic.”
The five core beliefs of the approach are that: An athlete’s needs come first, parents and coaches need to work together, there are effective pathways in place, continuous learning and quality coaching available.
