Goal is to keep them playing

GETTING STUCK IN: Horouta player Kairo Chaffee-Kora (left) clashes with Sam Matthews, from Ngatapa, in Poverty Bay junior rugby last year. This year's club competition for junior players is likely to start in May. Picture by Paul Rickard

The Poverty Bay rugby union has signalled junior rugby will start on May 2 and the season may extend into schools' Term 3, but the shape of competitions will be confirmed after community consultation is considered.

On Wednesday, the union ran a consultation evening that was designed to stimulate feedback and get parents and coaches thinking about the best mindset for promoting the junior game.

They were asked to consider whether children were best served by a climate of performance or development.

Feedback will influence decisions such as whether a weight-restricted grade for under-13 players is retained.

The grade has been in place for the past two seasons and was brought in to make the sport more viable for smaller players.

All other grades at junior level are based on age and the union's junior advisory board will have to decide whether to return to a purely age-based system, stick with the status quo or make adjustments.

The union ran a condensed junior season within Term 2 last year and some feedback suggested this was too short.

A longer season appears likely but Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chief executive Josh Willoughby said junior rugby would not be played in the school holidays between terms 2 and 3.

The McDonald's u13 development series may shift from August to the end of Term 1.

Wednesday's meeting covered topics such as sideline behaviour, treatment of referees and coaching.

Amid a diverse range of sporting and other options for young people, rugby player numbers nationally have been dropping for boys and increasing for girls.

The union's consultation evening came in the same week as Sport New Zealand and five codes — rugby, netball, hockey, cricket and football — ramped up a campaign that highlights reasons why some youth drop out of sport.

Sport NZ cautions against young people specialising in a sport too early, and emphasises skill development and fun, rather than junior representative programmes and winning.

The campaign is backed by organisations such as Poverty Bay Rugby and Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti.

Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti chief executive Stefan Pishief said the campaign raised important issues about what mattered most in youth sport.

“It's not a case of political correctness gone mad, or removing opportunities for those kids that want to do well,” he said.

“Competition will always be in the blood for many of us.

“This is about ensuring all tamariki experience quality sporting opportunities, and that we stop the trend of kids dropping out of sport. I believe everyone in our community wants to see that happen.”

Willoughby had much the same outlook and said sports codes had to adapt to “keep up with participants”.

Poverty Bay union president and former coach Dick Glover offered thoughts about coaching at the junior level.

He said a survey many years ago highlighted themes that had re-emerged — that kids wanted to play rugby with their mates, good coaching was important, that they wanted competitions to be relatively even and they were keener on playing than training.

Glover was disappointed to witness some coaches in the younger grades put time into such things as scrummaging and tactics and “not sufficient energy into pass, catch and tackle”.

“What you want kids to play rugby for is to have fun and learn skills.”