"Our coaches don’t just run classes. They develop skilful rugby players.”
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Toddler and Kids Rugby Classes
Welcome to Sport4Kids toddler and kids rugby classes! Our rugby classes cater for 18 month old toddler children and up through Under 5s, Under 7s, Under 9s and Under 11s kids rugby classes.
We start off with exciting toddler play focused rugby classes for the smallest ones and build the passion and technical rugby skills from this early age building the core skills that will be so ingrained when they get into competition in older years. We teach the fundamentals of rugby movement and motor skills.
S4K is all about building confidence in every child through rugby and believe that every child’s skill level can be enhanced through patient and engaging coaching. Our rugby classes have been designed to develop every child’s physical, psychological and social skills.
A typical rugby class will encompass how to pick up and hold a rugby ball, running with the rugby ball; we teach them kicking, catching, scoring tries and even conversions over our child sized rugby posts. The aim is to develop both hand-eye coordination and foot-eye coordination for the rugby ball. At the same time we capture the imagination of children with exciting imaginary games and energetic, smiley, happy and fun filled coaching sessions.
Why Choose S4K Rugby?
S4K Rugby is uniquely based upon the world’s leading All Blacks Rugby Union and Aussie Kangaroos Rugby League approaches to precision rugby
S4K Rugby adopts the Montessori approach to child learning where all activity is broken down to the finest motor skills and we prepare the individual for progression, confidence and success. Fun, excitement and of course entertainment designed into imaginative stories and play based exercises. This is a coaching and development programme for children aged 2-11 using the skills found in rugby to develop a childʼs key motor skills.
As part of Sport4Kids, the S4K Rugby Program has a deep body of Sports Entertainers specialising in developing children aged 18 months and upwards to improve their confidence, listening and social skills to follow their dreams and fulfil their potential. Our transparent and easy to follow S4K Rugby Player Pathway for parents, coaches and kids allows everybody to recognise and watch progression every step of the way.
Sport4Kids is the only place where we combine toddler and child fun in a program with foresight and innovation to develop skills and rugby techniques that are at the forefront of international rugby and progress and nurture children through to competitive youth rugby.
Rugby Coaching with Sports Entertainers
We are proud of our coaches, who we fondly refer to as “Sports Entertainers” who are responsible for keeping each and every child engaged, having fun and becoming excited. It is a great way of developing your child’s lifelong passion for sport, keeping our children healthy and active.
Our exciting rugby classes are structured to take our budding rugby kids on a sporting journey of imagination and fun filled exercise. S4K builds from core skills and prepares children for rugby success.
We treat every child as an individual. Each and every child will develop at their own pace, they have different ways of learning. Following peers, listening to the coach and learning from mum and dad in the week are all part of their support structure to progress.
Parents and Rugby Coaches Working As A Team
S4K believes in teamwork between the parent and the coach. A circle of trust builds between the coach, the parent and the child as rugby classes progress. There is a comprehensive S4K Rugby Player Pathway curriculum against which all children are nurtured. Rugby progression is the name of the game and this is showcased in our monthly cycle of activity.
The more a parent repeats the coach’s messages during the week the more the child will become familiar and the sooner a toddler, pre-schooler of budding rugby player of 5 or 7 will settle into a new environment. They will gain confidence and increase their ability at their own pace, but with the teamwork support of the parent and the coach they will progress.
Unique Energetic Kids Rugby Classes
As with everything at Sport4Kids, we bring together the best coaching techniques from around the world of rugby to create a product that is not only child-centric, but also technically advanced.
The S4K Way is to adopt the best practice from the best rugby nations around the world and then build in extra S4K magic and innovation to both entertain but also develop core skills that become so natural to our developing rugby players.
We have heavily researched and leveraged coaching methods form both Rugby Union and Rugby League. We have taken the best bits and lessons on how to design world class rugby classes for children. We have studied the New Zealand All Blacks rugby culture and initiatives for children including their Small Blacks program. We have also adopted the principles and ball handling skills of the Australian Rugby League and how they have built their great invincible national team, The Kangaroos, around innate and ingrained skills starting the children from very young.
Sport4Kids is based around the work of child psychologists and educational experts, our sessions are designed around using some of the Montessori learning techniques making the exercises in tune with how children learn and develop.
The combination of world class rugby lessons, Montessori development techniques and the magic of our sports entertainers wrapping everything in fun filled games is unique to anywhere on the planet. Come and see for yourself by booking a free taster. We are proud to say we aim to teach our kids to pass like the All Blacks, run like the Kangaroos, and entertain like Walt Disney!
Lessons From The Southern Hemisphere
In the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup in England, the hosts were the first nation in history to go out of the competition at the group stage. It was also the first time that all four nations in the semi-finals were from the Southern Hemisphere.
The World Champions at the time, The All Blacks, demonstrated a brand of rugby that relied upon precision passing and handling skills in the area of contact and in the heat of the battle that could not be matched by England or any other nation. We have studied and taken the lessons on how New Zealand have created such a force in world rugby and we include those within the design of our rugby program. You can read our article “How do the All Blacks Do It?” for lesson that we have used in the design of our kids rugby classes and why we believe in teaching precision and finer motor skills from an early age.
We also believe that we have to go back to basic rugby skills from our to tots through kids to youth and then competitive international rugby. We aim to give English and Northern hemisphere a fresh start. Read more in our article “English Rugby Needs a Fresh Start”. If we can learn the lessons of the Southern hemisphere, add our own innovations and commit to giving our tots and children the very best start then we can aim to regain the top spot in world rugby.
Lessons From Both Codes
We have taken our passion to build the world’s best rugby program for tots and children a stage further. We have looked at both rugby codes and have analysed the best techniques and inspiration from both. Read more in our article “Learning from Rugby League and Rugby Union to Design Kids Rugby Classes”.
Toddler and pre-school rugby in the UK has always chosen to use large rugby balls for ease of handling. We have chosen smaller child sized balls so that they can develop the right handling techniques from a young age. It helps our kids to develop precision handling and proper rugby techniques that can last all the way to international level. A fresh start with precision skills build from our youngest can only help with transforming our national side.
Rugby Skills Pathway
Our Rugby Player Pathway demonstrates that children can be taught correct handling technique from a very young age and our uniquely designed rugby balls, smaller and weighted, are designed with exactly this in mind.
The All Blacks have led the world in precision rugby and the use of smaller balls for tots and children allow them to hold the ball properly, building the right motor skills and muscle memory for more advanced technical skills.
S4K Rugby builds a child’s basic motor skills. These include holding the ball properly ready for running and passing, building balanced running with the ball, core motor skills for confidence and agility. To develop these, S4K Rugby classes are designed using imaginative and exciting ball handling games that encompass all of the mini-motor skills required to become a highly skilled rugby player later in life. We encompass twisting, precision, picking up and placing the ball, running, weaving, jumping, throwing and catching games.
Our unique Rugby Pathway program is focused on developing the core rugby skills of every child building innate motor skills for advanced rugby techniques and covers the following…
S4K Toddlers (18 months to 3 years) = Knowledge = Confidence Holding the Ball
Cubs (3 to 5 years) = Passion = Confidence Handling the Ball
Lions (5 to 7 years) = Teamwork = Confidence Attacking & Defending
Tackling In Kids Rugby
Tackling is a huge area of debate in children’s rugby. The progression from tagging to tackling at under 9s level is a large leap for all children. This lack of preparation often leads to a greater number of injuries when tackling is introduced. Our program is based on the New Zealand Rugby Union and The Australian Rugby League approach to teaching tackling in rugby plus our own S4K Montessori inspired method of building the core skills, one by one, in order to prepare and enable a child to bridge the gap to tackling forms of competitive rugby.
The S4K Way is all about preparing the child from an early age for a world of tackling. We do this in a safe environment and controlled exercises to avoid collisions and injury risk but building the micro physical skills that prepare them for when they do have to tackle later in their rugby development. Each child has to have the various physical attributes to be able to enjoy the physical side of the game and to be ready, confident and have all the physical motor skills for tackling safely. If done well it is great fun and we all know kids love a bit of rough and tumble with mum and dad!
We prepare children for the world of tackling at any earlier age, focusing on the positioning of legs, upper body and head, while avoiding any kind of dangerous contact. This maximises knowledge prior to the introduction of tackling in competition, while also minimising the fear that many children experience in anticipating tackling.
Child focus is paramount for S4K Rugby classes. We mix having fun with confidence building whilst learning the technical skills of rugby.
Developing A Passion For Rugby
We believe that in order for children to develop passion, they must first learn to have fun. They also have to feel they are learning something they value and developing their skills which in turn builds confidence and a passion for rugby.
From here, children progress their rugby skills in the group as and we nurture that passion for rugby child by child. We develop a level of engagement, which through careful nurturing, a fun-filled activity program and a supportive family environment can then build their passion for rugby. Our approach to designing kids rugby classes is to focus on child-centric analogous learning, exploring rugby skills through themed games – from pirates and superheroes to exploring the jungle and pretending to be astronauts blasting off into space! This provides children with the platform to explore rugby.
Securing the future and quality of rugby starts with the young ones. To be an effective sports entertainer coach, you need to fulfil a number of different roles, covering the emotional, progression, technical, tactical, physical and mental aspects needed for a comprehensively high performing rugby development program. S4K Rugby is committed to offering a world-leading coaching development service for our young players.