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Mini Rugby - Ages 7-13
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VIRU Mini Rugby Draws Over 250 Young Players for Final Event
posted May 5 2010
The Vancouver Island Rugby Union Mini Rugby program recently wrapped up another successful season enjoying a brilliant day of rugby at the University of Victoria fields. With over 250 young rugby players from North and South Island clubs including; Castaway Wanderers, Cowichan RFC, Nanaimo RFC and the Velox Valhallians participating in the day's events.
Vancouver Island rugby clubs look forward to continued growth particularly in girls (youth) rugby, one of the fastest growing sports groups in North America. With all the concern these days about our children lacking exercise these families have found that Rugby is a great way to get the kids off the couch and into a fun, fit and fast paced game at very reasonable cost.
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Shawnigan Lake School and Cowichan Rugby Club are hosting their 3rd annual Mini Rugby Jamboree this Sunday, April 5th
by John James
posted April 3 2009
Shawnigan Lake School and Cowichan Rugby Club are hosting their 3rd annual Mini Rugby Jamboree this Sunday, April 5th.
The program will be held at Shawnigan Lake School and will include Mini Rugby and U-13 and 14 games.
This year it is anticipated that 450 kids will be involved with lots of support from Shawnigan Lake School, Cowichan Rugby, the Vancouver Island Referees Society and other Island member Mini Rugby programs.
Nanaimo Hornets, Velox Valhalions, Cowichan, Castaway Wanderers, Brit Lions & Surrey Beavers + a mix of other programs will be represented.
The Sunday event kicks off at around 11:00am and features the following highlight games;
U14 Games
-Nanaimo v Velox 11:30am
-Cowichan v Castaways Wanderers 11:30am
-Velox v Cowichan 12:15pm
-Nanaimo v Castaways Wanderers 12:15pm
-Cowichan v Nanaimo 1pm
-Velox v Castaways Wanderers 1pm
Under 13/14 Games
-Brit Lions v Castaway Wanderers 12:15pm
-Castaway Wanderers v Surrey Beavers 1pm
-Brit Lions v Surrey 1:45pm
BC Rugby held its Final Jamboree of the Fall season on Sunday
by Alex Cameron
posted Nov 25 2008
BC Rugby held its annual Final Fall Jamboree of the Fall season on Sunday. The weather cooperated and all ages attended a great day of rugby. The clubs who participated in the k-6 Category with BC Rugby, in a new partnership with Boston Pizza, held their annual Final Fall Boston Pizza Mini Rugby Jamboree of the Fall season on Sunday at the University of British Columbia. The weather cooperated and gave all who attended a great day of rugby. The clubs who participated in the kindergarten – Grade 6 category were Meraloma RFC, UBCOB Ravens RFC, Capilano RFC, Vancouver Rowing Club RFC, Surrey Beavers RFC, Chuckanut Bay RFC, Ridge Meadows RFC, and the Brit Lions RFC.
With three fields of matches running all morning the Boston Pizza Minis were playing all morning. Between games and before heading home from the UBC Thunderbirds home ground the close to 400 participants enjoyed a bounce in the giant inflatable castle, race through the obstacle course and a skills test at the Boston Pizza Activity Zone. In “the Zone” minis got a chance to test their skills against their friends while getting to meet some of the BC High Performance athletes. The younger players were put through their paces in a variety of tests including a 30m sprint, T-test, passing and kicking. The older Grade 7/8 category of kids were playing at nearby Jericho Fields, home to the UBCOB Ravens.
The 7/8 kids have been playing separately from their younger counterparts this fall for the first time to give them more field space and attention to work on their game and skills. It has been well received so far and the players are enjoying playing on the full sized fields. The 7/8s have been tiered this half with Capilano Gr 8s, Vancouver Rowing Club, Ridge Meadows and Bayside playing in the upper tier and the Brit Lions, Capilano Gr 7s and Meraloma participating in the lower tier. From all accounts these games were hard fought and everyone enjoyed themselves on the day. Some of these kids will play in a U13 league in the Spring. Good luck to them all!
Everyone had fun and smiles and laughs were heard all over the fields. One young player was even heard to say “this is the best jamboree ever!” With that, we look forward to seeing all the young athletes again in the spring for the new season of Boston Pizza Mini Rugby.
VANCOUVER ISLAND MINI RUGBY JAMBOREE THIS SUNDAY AT WINDSOR PARK
by Ian MacLean
posted Oct 2 2008
This Sunday (Oct 5th), Castaway Wanderers will be hosting the first Jamboree for the season for Island Clubs. Cowichan, Nanaimo and Velox will combine with CW to have 240 girls and boys, from ages 7 - 13 playing some form of Mini Rugby, from, Touch/Flag to modified teams (12/13 aside), full contact, lineouts, unopposed scrums, the real deal!
Mini Rugby at the club level is in its seventh year in one form or another on the Island. It is always a challenge to attract kids to this new and "different" sport, when soccer programs are so established and indoor basketball appeals as an option to sometimes drab, fall weather. Dedicated folk from the clubs continue to work with kids and many clubs are experiencing the fruits of these labors as kids move to the Junior levels of play.
Action start this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. and play concludes between 11:15 and 11:30, when the weary players will partake of their hotdogs, cookie and juice!
Mini rugby jamboree success at Shawnigan School
by Ian MacLean
posted April 3, 2007
Vancouver Island clubs Velox, Nanaimo, CW and Cowichan ended another successful season yesterday with a monster Jamboree held at Shawnigan School. The jamboree was organised by Cowichan's, Barkley Logan and the Concession patiently tended by Cowichan parents. This event came about after an "ideas meeting", held before Xmas with reps from the four clubs. Mini rugby is indeed alive and well on the Island.
Yesterday's matches saw approx 350 kids playing from Bayside, Brit Lions, Ridge Meadows, Burnaby Lake, Surrey, Capilano (from Vancouver) and Chuckanut Bay (USA), as well as the four Island clubs. Games were played from U8's (flag rugby) to U14's (full fifteen-aside with rule modifications). The standard of play was quite remarkable with players demonstrating good skills and hard, competitive safe play. Brilliant tries being the order of the day. The enthusiastic, positive support from parents, coaches and the empathic assistance from referees made the day a memorable one for the kids.
Most Island clubs will now conclude their season although there will be another Jamboree in Vancouver on Sunday, April 15th at Burnaby Lake, featuring interactive skills practises conducted by National Team men and women. Victoria Schools - Elementary and Middle, now start their school "season" - an exhibition series of games that culminate with the 36th Greater Victoria Elementary Schools Carnival, to be held at Mt Doug High on Friday, May 11th once again, capably organised by Mick Eckardt. The VIRU clubs wish to thank David Robertson, Principal of Shawnigan Lake School for offereing the school's grounds for yesterday's event. It is to be hoped that this can become an Annual event.
MINI RUGBY starting at Local Clubs
[ed. Mini Rugby programs are in progress, contact your local club for more information]
by John James
posted May 2 2006
For Boys & Girls Ages: 5-12 years
Every Monday Night
Rain or Shine including the holiday
Starting May 1 to June 5 6:00-7:30 pm
Fee $40 for 6 Sessions includes $10 Rugby Canada Registration & free T-shirt
Family Rates Available - Mouth guards Mandatory
Registration First Monday
At the.. Cowichan Rugby Club
1860 Herd Road Duncan BC V9L 5W4
Telephone 746-7513
Need more information?
Call Bruce @ 748-6960 or Anne @ 748-1501
The Players of Tomorrow
By Lisa Cooper
posted March 2 2005
On a sunny and warm Sunday in Victoria a mini rugby jamboree was held at the Velox rugby club. About 250 children from the Oak Bay, Nanaimo and Velox mini rugby programs turned up to play against one another under the watchful eye of volunteer coaches, organizers and proud parents.
This level of youth development has been going strong on the island for roughly 2 years with the kids getting together every Sunday from September to April. The coaches, who are mostly club players, work on age specific skills that range from basic ball handling in the younger age groups to tackling and scrummaging with the older kids. Each year there has been more interest in mini rugby which has allowed for clubs like James Bay to have recently started up programs also. The fee is $100 dollars per child which covers BCRU registration fees, but it is the hope that cost will not be a deterrent for those kids interested in joining but who are unable to pay the fee. The clubs will cover these costs if necessary as it is the aim of youth development to allow all children the opportunity to play.
The overall atmosphere at the jamboree on Sunday was that of a great community effort that brought kids together to have fun, be active and to build their skills as rugby players. The ratio of boys to girls is about 70/30, but it is hard to tell the difference between them during play on the pitch. Ariel Hansen, age 13 is playing her first year of mini rugby and loves the sport. “I like tackling people”, she said excitedly. Her love of the game and of tackling were echoed by her friend Rebecca Mulroney, age 12 in her second year of mini rugby, who wishes that there was a girls team at her school St. Michael’s University.
Many of these kids are involved in a number of sports and therefore there is some competition in drawing young kids towards rugby. The people involved in the mini rugby programs and people like Casey Dunning, current Pacific Pride player and a BCRU development officer, are trying to get into the schools to advertise rugby and to make kids aware of a game that some know nothing of. The Development officer position is part time and paid and their aim is to get into schools that have limited or no rugby programs, show them a demonstration rugby video and go over some basic skills with the hope of generating interest in youth rugby.
For those people who have to drive their little ones here and there when it comes to sports interests, the fact that the mini rugby is played on Sundays and all ages play together at the same field is a bonus. William Robertson whose sons Liam and Connor are both involved with the Nanaimo mini program had nothing but positive things to say about the program. “The coaching is great and all of the kids feel supported and involved, it’s a fantastic program.” His son Connor decided he wanted to play when he saw his older brother practicing tackling, and it has become his favorite part of the game. Deb Edwards has 2 boys and 2 girls playing mini rugby and her husband coaches in Nanaimo. She loves her children playing and would love to see all of her kids involved in rugby in the future. “The program is wonderful and the jamborees are great as it helps the kids to feel as though they belong to something bigger.” Deb also said that the children are helping to spread the rugby word around to other children and after having been at Velox on Sunday it is clear to me why they are keen to get their friends involved.
The adult club members seemed to be having a great time coaching, refereeing and more importantly acting as mentors for the youngsters. Having key members of the National team like Mark Lawson and Aaron Abrams present at these events shows that there is support from all levels of the game and the mixture of the clubs working towards a greater goal helps to create a strong sense of community which can at times be lost on competitive pettiness amongst the clubs. The love of competition is not lost on these kids though. McKenzie Catto, age 10, plays for the Castaway Wanderers minis and has been playing for 6 years. “My favorite thing is beating Nanaimo and Velox!” His friend Morgan Tate agreed and said, “We lost to Velox this morning, but that was because the ref (Casey Dunning) was blind today.” Perhaps Morgan has been taking tips from his Dad Doug Tate…
Full credit must be given to the coaches as these kids seemed to me to have a real understanding of the basic skills of the game and it showed in their passing skills and their support of the player running with the ball. Most importantly, the key in development at this level is that the children are having fun, and there seemed to be more than enough fun to go around on Sunday. The kids, coaches, and parents were all wearing big smiles and the support carried all the way to making sure the kids got their hot dogs and drinks after using up a ton of energy on the field. My overall feeling is that this program is a great one and that I and others hope it will continue to grow with added support from the rugby and local communities. This sort of youth development has been too long in coming and is sure to pay off in the years to come when these players reach their full potential.
Congratulations to all the children involved on Sunday. We hope to see more from you on rugby fields in the future and congratulations to the organizers and volunteers for making it such a wonderful event and day for the kids. Thank you for making this possible and for supporting the growth of rugby in British Columbia.
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