{"id":26523,"date":"2020-01-31T10:55:49","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T09:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/?p=26523"},"modified":"2020-02-02T22:09:22","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T21:09:22","slug":"rugby-with-the-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/2020\/01\/31\/rugby-with-the-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby with the School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our son has become very passionate about playing rugby since playing for the first time with the school<\/a> and it all feels like it happened very quickly. I for one knew absolutely nothing about rugby but this is what I have encountered so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rugby boots are not\nthe same as football boots<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One minute I am buying the wrong boots because the guy in Sports Direct sold me them telling me that they were rugby boots. Luckily we have a teen at home who has played rugby and informed me they were wrong before they ended up being taken to school. Despite Sports Direct\u2019s error they could only offer me a voucher in exchange and not a refund. I wasn\u2019t going to argue with the poor woman in the shop because quite frankly they are low enough paid and badly treated – plus it was valid for a long time and I knew we would use it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ideally rugby boots should have the removable studs and not a plastic tip as they get sharp and can cause bad scratches. Also don’t forget their feet are growing quickly at this stage. We only had one day in between matches to replace our son’s because they had started rubbing. \u00a345 because there was only one pair available in his size – I have told him not to lose them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rugby Kit<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The rugby tops are very fitted and so we had to go up several sizes as our son has very broad shoulders. We have since learned that really he could do with a completely spare kit – this is useful for when he loses it and when he has a Saturday match after Friday training. It seems he is very reluctant to get his rugby kit washed – telling us it is just a bit of mud and will only get dirty again. Good job he\u2019s at a mixed sex school right! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has indeed already lost one of his socks but luckily a friend borrowed him a pair until we managed to get hold of another pair from the second hand school uniform shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo by Hanson Lu<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can get different mouth guards that you fit yourself\nfrom the shops – we went with paying the extra and having someone come into\nschool to mould it. As I say I am completely new to it all and didn\u2019t want to get\nit wrong. Although the first time he went to wear it he said it didn\u2019t fit! I\nthink he just had to get used to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rugby Lessons and Training<\/strong> at School<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They have being having rugby lessons as part of games at school and a lot of the boys had been playing for years. I think this is where they were split into different groups which are sorted by letters of the alphabet. I say I know nothing about rugby but did actually know that the A Team were the best, and then the B and so on as our teen used to play when he started secondary school. It worked slightly differently in his old school though and he was often a \u201creserve\u201d keeping his weekends free but never playing. He says it was due to the injuries he saw happening he decided to drop down the letters until he dropped out of the team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our year 7 went straight in to the B Team. As he one of the tall and broad boys he has been put into position 1, which I believe is a prop for the scrum or something. The only other thing I have discovered is that the fast ones are put on the wing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Quino Al<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He loved rugby so much that he immediately started to play on a Monday lunchtime and I think it was another reason he was keen to give up swimming club<\/a>. He then added in after school once a week too. Matches are either within school time, so he misses lunch or at weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rugby Matches<\/strong> with School<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Parents can go and support at rugby matches played with the school but this wasn\u2019t very clear at the start and I was told that it was just weekend matches by another parent, but this isn\u2019t the case. The first match was an away at a local school and I only just caught the tail end. A boy from the other school hurt his arm quite badly, I am not sure exactly how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second match I saw was at home and it didn\u2019t seem that\nparent friendly in terms of where to go. There was also a football match going\non and another parent asked us if we knew where the toilets were. Saying that\nthere were free teas and coffees provided and the school open to use the\ntoilets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"coffee\"
Photo by Mike Kenneally<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the field there were various matches going on and it\nreally was just a case of find your child. Even with my glasses on I just\ncouldn\u2019t seem to find my son. One of the dad\u2019s came over and asked which of the\nteams were playing in front of me and it turned out his son was on the same\nteam as mine. As he couldn\u2019t see his boy either I concluded that these were\nindeed not the right ones. He said that there were a couple more the other side\nof the field, which I thought was just where the football was playing. But yes\nwe found them there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked him about his son and he pointed him out. He told me\nall about how he was a rugby coach and explained about where we shouldn\u2019t stand.\nI had explained that this was my very first match and asked if we were allowed\nto stand where he was because it looked like a goal. Apparently that is the\ngoal for when they play full pitch and they can kick the ball over. It seemed\nall very odd to him that I knew very little about rugby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"rugby
Photo by Thomas Serer<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before long another dad came along and this new dad was also\nasked who his son was. Note at no point did either of them ask about mine!\nLuckily my husband made an appearance so I wasn\u2019t on my own for the rest of the\nmatch. They never asked him though either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other team were from an independent school, in what I\nknow to be an affluent area. I have no idea if this has any bearing on anything\nbut from my untrained eye they were very good. Their captain (I only know he\nwas this because our son told me afterwards) was really fast at running and our\nboys just could not keep up. They also seemed to pass the ball out to get\nround, where as our approach seemed to be just to run into everyone and hope\nfor the best. We drew and apparently it\u2019s a mix of the two things we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rugby Trips<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Win, lose or draw our son is really enjoying rugby so much\nso that he wants to go on all the trips. So far he has been to see the Varsity\nMatch and now has paid towards going away in year 8 which involves a tour of Twickenham\nand some coaching by the Harlequins. I have also heard that there is a big\nrugby tour at the end of the school years and I should imagine he will also\nwant to go on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"rugby
Photo by Edgar Pimenta<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rugby Clubs<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

He has been asking about joining a local rugby club as one\nof the other boys has told him it would be a good idea. I have talked to a\nfriend about it and I am really not sure it is. Apart from the extra training\n(when he already does Rugby three times a week and climbing, running and\nswimming once a week) there\u2019s the match clashes. He just really loves it though\nand wants to play it as much as he can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you any tips on\nrugby for children? Or any insights? Or experience on being a member of a rugby\nclub and playing for the school?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our son has become very passionate about playing rugby since playing for the first time with the school and it all feels like it happened very quickly. I for one knew absolutely nothing about rugby but this is what I have encountered so far. Rugby boots are not the same as football boots One minute … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[352,1437],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/54.155.211.39\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/boots.jpg?fit=800%2C600","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/54.155.211.39\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/boots.jpg?fit=800%2C600",800,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/54.155.211.39\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/boots.jpg?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/54.155.211.39\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/boots.jpg?fit=300%2C225",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/54.155.211.39\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/boots.jpg?fit=768%2C576",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/54.155.211.39\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/boots.jpg?fit=800%2C600",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/54.155.211.39\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/boots.jpg?fit=800%2C600",800,600,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/54.155.211.39\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/boots.jpg?fit=800%2C600",800,600,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"pinkoddy","author_link":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/author\/pinkoddy\/"},"uagb_comment_info":3,"uagb_excerpt":"Our son has become very passionate about playing rugby since playing for the first time with the school and it all feels like it happened very quickly. I for one knew absolutely nothing about rugby but this is what I have encountered so far. Rugby boots are not the same as football boots One minute…","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pepM9j-6TN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26523"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/54.155.211.39\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}