Set out by the RFU, Regulation 15 has a significant effect on what English teams should and shouldn't be coaching children from the ages of U8 to U18. Read on to see how it will effect your preparation and planning for the off-season.

The '17-'18 season ends on the 7th May 2018 and the '18-'19 season starts on 1st September 2018. During this period there are specific aspects of the game that coaches, parents etc. should be aware of highlighted here.

Specifically, there is to be no contact based training for any junior teams in the off-season! However U14 to U18 can play begin full training in the 2 weeks prior to the season starting.

What can you do?

Although this may seem fairly restrictive, we are here to help you make the most out of this off-season so that your team are best prepared for next season!

There are some issues here for junior team coaches in England to be aware of:

• Progressing youngsters in learning the tackle
• Maintaining motor skill development - fundamentals of movement
• Transferring learning from other sports

Preparing For The Tackle

A lot of Tackle development & progression is learning how the body works. Through using Tower of Power (TOP) principles you can play loads of games that develop the body ready for the tackle, without using contact. See our range of exercises here you can incorporate into a FUN - PLAY based activity.

All these exercises are based around developing good body shape. TOP reflects not only the scrum but the good body shape in ALL contact situations.

You need to also think about planning the tackle progression and development into your early season plan - they will come straight from holiday mode into a new mode of play and you need to incorporate this into your delivery.

Fundamental Movement Skills

Fundamental movement skills are movement patterns that involve various body parts and provide the basis of physical literacy. This is therefore very important to a young player's physical development, before tackling the sport-specific complex movement skills.

All rugby specific skills and techniques require a basis of fundamental movement - if you have not developed these in your players at a young formative age then they will NEVER develop the higher performance in adult playing. Gaps will appear and ultimately players will never play to their potential.

Playing other sports is an excellent way to learn these motor skills/fundamentals. There is a transfer of certain sports skills such as hand-eye coordination in Cricket or Tennis for example. Using any other sport to improve fundamental movement and maintain a level of fitness and team spirit can be a great way to spend the no-contact month of June!

To view this session in full, simply search 'Fundamentals of Movement' in the RugbyCoachingDrills.com search bar!

If you are looking to set up a school or club account with RCD then please get in touch with info@rugbycoachingdrills.com