Toddler & Kids Rugby Taster this Weekend!

We are creeping closer to our toddler rugby and kids rugby taster session, which will take place at St John Beaumont Prep School in Old Windsor (SL4 2JN) this Saturday between 9.30-11.30am – click here to register to pop along and see us.  Our toddlers and pre-school children will be treated to rugby fun and games, designed to build on basic motor skills to develop precision in rugby play. 

There are a number of toddler and pre-school rugby providers around, so we caught up with Head Coach Dr Mark Gould to find out what is so unique about S4K Rugby.

How is S4K Rugby Different?
“Well, as with everything at Sport4Kids, we like to make waves in how we teach sport by sampling the best methods from around the globe and designing our curriculum around it. With football, we spent a lot of time researching the Dutch Coerver method and the Spanish “tiki-taka”, which shaped the development of our Player Pathway curriculum. The same process was undertaken for rugby, but this time we had to spend significantly more time researching the methods of the southern hemisphere – namely the All Blacks Rugby Union side and the Australian Rugby League team.”

Do S4K teach Rugby League or Rugby Union?
“At pre-school level, it isn’t too important. What we believe is important however, is to teach precision and ball handling from an early age.”

How can you teach precision to a toddler?
“The unique thing here is that we actually use a small ball. Not only is the ball small, but it is also weighted foam, rather than the usual squidgy foam.  By doing this, we can teach our toddlers good habits, such as holding the ball using the “W” shape from an early age. The weighted nature of the ball also gives them a good idea about the ball moves through the air.”

That sounds pretty technical for toddlers?
Haha don’t worry – S4K Rugby is all about fun while developing skills. We use our psychologically famed
“analogous learning” approach – meaning that our children think they are flying around the moon on a rocket ship or running riot on a pirate ship while they learn their new sport.

When do the classes start?
We have a launch date for the first classes on 13th February 2016 at Charter’s Leisure Centre in Sunningdale, but we have a free taster introduction running in Windsor on Saturday 23rd January 2016. Open to all – so come and have a go!