Please welcome Robbie Doyle to the HoR2 team...this is the first in a series of posts he'll be penning for us titled "Diary of a Youth Coach".
It is said that every great motion picture should have a “hook” - an opening that gets the audience to sit further forward in their seat anticipating something special for the movie’s duration. In the industry, it’s called “the promise of premise.”
It is said that every great motion picture should have a “hook” - an opening that gets the audience to sit further forward in their seat anticipating something special for the movie’s duration. In the industry, it’s called “the promise of premise.”
When I was asked to write these series of articles for ‘Harpin on Rugby,’ I fretted about having such a “hook” for the reader of my first post but then along came George Hook. Before you all moan about the use of such a lame pun, let me explain...
I have been coaching kids in a rural rugby club for the last 6 years. Like most coaches at this level, I was dragged from the group of onlooking proud parents at their child’s first training session to help out. Next minute, I was head coach of a bunch of six year-olds! And, guess what? Best thing I was ever “volunteered” for.
Fast forward from U7’s, through the mini’s section and into the first phase of youth rugby at U13 level. What a rush! One minute, it’s teaching kids to pass backwards and run forwards; the next it’s front-row binding and defence patterns. But where’s the hook, I hear you ask?
In April 2011, we were invited to play in a rugby festival in Orsay, a small town about 25km outside Paris. That suburb was looking to twin with our town on an official basis and the rugby fraternity on both sides of the sea also wanted strong linkages to develop between clubs. The incoming U13 coaches were delighted to accept such an invite but it would be a big task to raise funds and organise the safe carriage of 30 or more kids out of the country. Happily, we had an enthusiastic bunch of parents who also decided they were willing to take up the challenge.
What followed was a year of race-nights, car washes, bag packs and weekly duty on the club shop as we scrambled to raise as much of the funds as possible. We had received a very competitive price from Irish Rugby Tours Ltd. and the promise of help on the French side so we knew our targets early on. By May of this year, and with most of the organising committee suffering from fundraising fatigue, we were ready for the final stages of the trip.
A successful campaign in the U13 Leinster Plate kept us training almost up to departure but I wanted to mark the occasion of this unique venture by holding a tour jersey presentation night, something that is traditional for many rugby tours abroad. George Hook is strongly linked to the travel agent we were using (father of…) and no better man than himself to invite to the club for such a ceremony.
If I was slightly worried before about how the 12 and 13 year olds would react to their perception of a grumpy old man, my fears were quickly allayed as the Newstalk presenter immediately honed in on his and the children’s common passion - rugby. He spoke to a room full of players and parents about the friendships and bonds that are formed in team sports but most especially in rugby, a sport that has a place for children of all shapes and sizes.
This is probably what makes it unique in team sports. Every player can be found a position on a rugby team - the large, the small, the fast & the “less” fast. The room hung on George’s every word & his talk set the tone for the trip.
And so, it was off to Paris with a bunch of teenagers and almost teenagers, preparing to take on the best that Parisian youth rugby could throw at us. Were the kids nervous? Not a chance. Was I? Hell, yes… This wasn’t going to be a like a Sunday morning trip to play a neighbouring U13 team. As a novice coach, into the great unknown I went.
Coming soon : Part 2 - Stade Francais and Racing tremble at the sight of …Cill Dara RFC!
Robbie Doyle is the head coach of the Cill Dara RFC under-13 squad. An ex-player with Bective and Co. Carlow, Robert refereed for ten years in Leinster, three of which were spent on the IRFU Referees Panel. Now coaching youths and minis in his local club, Robert hopes to continue in the game as a coach, progressing as far as possible. He is also a freelance historical writer in his spare, spare time.
© JL Pagano 2012
