Rugby at any age

Yesterday I started working at a returning Play Rugby school in Brooklyn. The first summer I worked with Play Rugby, most of my students were at least 10 years old and up. There was one site in the Bronx that had kids from as young as five up to 14 years old. That's quite a range. Fortunately, I was able to break the kids up into age appropriate groups. In this newest location, I work with first grade and kindergarten. Initially, I felt a little trepidation about working with kids who are so young. But I realize that all kids want to do is have fun. Actually isn't that what "grown ups" want too? I realized I'd be fine. I just had to keep them moving.

Prior to my first day, I did get a few pointers from Molly who works with the age group. "No sarcasm." That was my mantra for the week. "They don't understand it," Molly informed me. She added, "Be happy otherwise they'll think you're mad at them." Ok. Check.

Since I arrived early, I had time before my session to relax and observe. I waited in an assembly area, one where I would run my sessions, but also where groups of students gathered before going off to their various after school clubs. The kids were grouped according to their clubs, art, hip hop, martial arts. I heard one teacher talking to a group of six kids. "Rugby" she repeated several times. I thought "six kids, nice small group." As kids waited their snacks eventually arrived, concentrated apple juice and Linden's cookies. I used to eat Linden's when I was a kid in NYC public school. Following snack time, the groups left for their activities. The six "rugby" kids remained. I heard a door open followed by lots of little voices. It turns out I would have 21 students for my first session, all first graders.

A mantra when working in NYC schools is be prepared for anything. Initially, the assembly space was supposed to be just rugby. But at the last minute, the martial arts group ending up sharing this space with us. Talk about keeping me on my toes. Kids tend to have a short attention span. Now I had to work a little harder to keep the attention of my students, competing against the activity of the martial arts program. We warmed up with stretching and burpees. Yes Burpees. I had the kids mimic my motion while repeating after me. "Up, Down, Back, Push up, In, Up, One." This was a good start to engaging them. Kindergarten followed the first grade. They did burpees too. They even did five more than the first grade. After warm ups, both groups played various versions of tag and hot potato. No matter what age some kids just want to get right to it. One student asked me, "when are we going to play rugby?"

In hind sight my initial trepidation came from not having worked with this age group for some time. I had so much fun working with them. I was reminded of how smart and funny kids are, especially at that age. Another tip I learned was use smaller words. For example, saying "run between the poles" is easier for them to understand than "run between the columns." During the spring, I'll work with this school twice a week. Isn't it great that they're starting at such a young age? Over the course of our time together, I have a feeling that they'll teach me just as much as I'll teach them.