Absolutely right - both the players receiving and administering said hammerings learn absolutely nothing and in the case of the former, can easily be put off the sport altogether.

Too many adults associated with junior sport live vicariously through their kids, such that they place more emphasis on winning than on development and enjoyment; as a result, the atmosphere at some junior games is positively toxic.

muttley..all scores above 50 are only ever shown as 50 ! as for the other comments, how many teams would you like to see in the first division? hunslet warriors under 13's have been dishing out large wins since under 11 at least but these are now coming down..there should be a minimum 10 teams per league and as i said in previous years adjustments were made during the season with some teams moved up and others down to avoid constant hammerrings..

the size of the leagues should be 10 (at least) bearing in mind YJARL have had the brainstorming idea of having a "Top 8 play off"


But I also agree with teams not learning from a hammering (both giving and receiving) and in the defence of YJARL in the past they have done a good job on moving teams about "mid Season" to prevent constant hammerings

which is what i was trying to say !

i think you have misquoted me due to the "hammering" quote Sir.

I think the leagues should be fit for purpose and that the YJL have a duty of care .

There's no disgrace whatever league you play in for heavens sake we are talking about boys who are 1-11 and 12 some really need to read the papers and a get a grip with the real matters in life.

Calm down Tamaragrace it was not a pop at your club , it was more a major pat on the back for eastmoor and incidentally it started out as a farewell for one of the most popular and liked faces in under 12s junior league.

lets get back to whats important eh!

must be some galas coming up , might go watch a couple

I'm going to settle down to watch the last weekends game Stanley v Oulton where they managed to finish our unbeaten run 6-14

missed it with being on my hols

no offence pal but i was at that match Shawcross played verry well and deserved to win but i Know that Panthers side and they was know where near there best tbh shaw cross have a very good stand off and do play good rugby but im pretty confident if Panthers was any where near there best would have won. I think this League of under 12 are going to be very special bunch i seen alot teams all over yorkshire apart from crigg who are the best so they must be really good with the right coaching by all coaches in this league you will find hell alot these kids will play super league or pro Rugby there fantastic bunch.

that's fantastic now reread what you have put on the forum for a start off yorkshire beings with a capital [size=200Y [/size where's your pride, secondly crigg deserves the same

now tell me which players to watch for as I do like to follow talent

You were at shaw cross on a mid week and have seen all other teems yet have not yet stumbled upon that little team called Cas.

I to know Cas and i also know Cross , give the Dewsbury club some credit would you please .
Yes I know of 1 player in the Cat's side who was missing , The then coach of castleford eas chatting to me with the other members of the coaching squad and having seen him play around 50+ i knew to this would be a great loss .

I also spoke to the shaw cross lad post match who jog my mind of a couple of players whom i know of from when i was at stanley and crigg first round (yes some still remember



) si i thought evens Stephens .

ATEOTD as i tell mine "toucan only play whats in front of you"

you conveniently miss out that castleford played 12 boys to 10 for the entire match .

now i'm sure that puts a perspective on it for some

Anyway.......................

back to why im here in the first place , thanks to the house of Micky and the fixture committee I know have a Riddle for you.

Alex a nephew signs up at a @icon_confused.gif>s based club in the under 8s last week as they are still in season , the liasion of stani@::@@icon_confused.gif in LE@@@ points out the system and that although he is 9 in 5 weeks time he wont play in the 9s for around another 200 days ....

so it got me thinking .

i post a lot of 10s and 12s

both of mine will end up playing 10 and 12 , but some of their friends will be 11 and 13 and some even 9 and 11.

riddle me this you wallies

there has to be a cut off point for age like there is for starting school,

one of my old school buddies had to stop back a yr in the juniors due to him starting at the wrong date and having his birthday the day after the said fixed date

harsh I know but he will become one of the strongest players when his time comes to play for the nines

i did give shaw cross loads of credit and to be fair i think there a decent team but i watched pathers beat them verry easy early on the season all im saying panthers was not at the races and cross was and yes they did only have 10 players and for that verry big well done.

like to say well done to eastmoor dragons u8s who won there gala on sunday winning 6 out of 6 against some tough teams including west hull.they then played at belle vue last night where they where split into two teams and one of them played stanningly and oulton u9s and they beat stanningley and lost a by one to oulton

I know there are many who visit this thread who either coach or are involved with junior sides. I have never had a child in any of the teams I have coached (I don't have the time for a child with coaching!) and I am curious as to whether having a child of your own affects the dynamic of the team or politics within the whole group?

That's a great question Seth,for me personally I don't think it has ever affected the team has a whole has I've treat my lad has just another player although sometimes you can be a little harder on them.

Another reason for me stepping down has a coach was that I want jake to learn from another coach and not have the added pressure of trying to do that bit more,watching him play for his school team under another coach made it easier for us both and i after say that it was great just to watch him play without worrying about another 16 lads.

I do think it helps give a more balanced view when a coach doesn't have a child in the team but finding coaches like yourself is very hard.

The strange thing over the last 15years or so I have been involved with junior rl, the Coaches kids are always the captain, and are either 6, 7, or 13, and the kicker !!!! with the odd and rare exception.

quality

Gala this week on Sunday at Cas Tigers for the u7s. Not sure what other teams are playing but Stanley are. Gala will take place all day with the final being played on the main pitch at half time during the Cas v Wakefield fixture.

The point you make about learning from other coaches is an important one, I'll sometimes get other coaches to come in and lead a session, I think the more quality imput they can get the more they will develop.

I can imagine it could be a challenge to focus on the development of a squad and your own child's within that as is only natural. I can also imagine that others may 'judge' or focus on the role the coaches child plays, which is not always fair. I don't know of any other teams at junior level who have a non parent as coach? I think it has been an advantage in some ways given some stories I've heard.

We have, and we've just recruited another for next season.

I suppose it's helped us to avoid any drama due to suggestions of favouritism and such, but the reality is that decent coaches with the right attitude are so hard to come by, that if one your parents has those credentials, you'd have little choice but to use them.

For me, the RFL leaves too much to chance around junior coaching - there should be a much more robust RL curriculum for junior players and the delivery of it should be properly policed in terms of CPD and regular assessment; as it stands, junior coaching is too inconsistent and doesn't always focus on player development.

Some good news on the coaching front for the panthers 12s with 3 new coaches stepping in.

I know from experience that all the Local RL clubs running Junior Academy’s (Hudds/Wakey/Leeds/Fev/Cas) actually do this, I am particularly impressed with Fev approach as they have CPD and personal development plans for individuals not relating to the rugby side (I.E. personal/social and academic development)

That's great at pro and semi-pro level, but the RFL should be overseeing something similar at junior level.

The amateur coaches attend CPD run by the pro club. Our club are also an RFL focus club and we have a coach coordinator programme with coordinators at mini, mod (my role) and junior 13 aside. We are working to help support coaches develop their players, as with anything the programme will depend on how receptive coaches are.