Greater mass participation compared to last autumn
In the U12s competition, a lot depends on the school presentations. Most players come through this type of promotion. For two years, as long as Corona lasted, it was not possible to enter and make presentations in schools. Unless you are Predrag Milanko from RK Žarkovo, who was the only one who managed to get into schools and do promotions. Now we hope that Corona is behind us and that the clubs can plan their work in schools.
Last fall we had 5 clubs in the U12s competition. This spring, the number grew to as many as 7. In addition to the number of clubs, the number of children in the teams also increased, so we had the opportunity to see really massive tournaments. Not massive like they were in 2020. year in the fall, when as many as 10 teams participated in the competition.
The following clubs participated in the competition this spring: RK Rad, BRK Crvena Zvezda, RK Dinamo 1954, RK Borac Starčevo, RK Žarkovo, RK Dorćol 1998 and RK Čelik. Guests from Zenica have continued the trend since before Corona, and participate in all competitions organized by the Rugby Union of Serbia.
From quantity comes quality
Our favorite sports philosophy question. When you get the theoretical things right, it’s easier to do the practical part. If you want to have quality, you can only get it from quantity. In other words, if you want to have a high-quality team in U12s, you must have a broad base. With a large number of players and quality coaches to train them, you end up with a pretty good team.
How to achieve quantity? Every club must make the most of its promotional activities. Promotions in schools, active social networks, active website, visibility in the media. In order to achieve all that, clubs must have an adequate structure that will be able to realize all activities. It’s hard and tiring, but without a General Secretary who will be busy with paperwork and a Sports Director who will be in charge of the sports part, few people can run an organized club.
School presentations must be a constant activity. Depending on the size of the territory where they are working, it is necessary to plan how frequent they will be. Experience has shown that most children come from school presentations. And they should be focused on. But other ways should not be neglected either. Being active on social networks can be very interesting, both for parents and for children who would like to try rugby. It’s the same thing with a website, which needs to be maintained and active. Where people can get information about the work of the club. If possible, the opportunity to appear in the local media should be used, in order to improve visibility.
How to achieve quality? When the requirement of a wide base of players is met (say 20 players in U12 teams), if you have good conditions for training, you need to have quality coaches. When you have the opportunity for 20 players to work and develop with a quality coach, your club will produce quality players. When you can simulate a match in training, you are on the right track. Of course, we are talking about some level that would be applied in Serbia. The base of the big clubs in Europe in the U12 cock competition has between 150 and 200 already selected players.
As Aristotle said almost 2,500 years ago: “Quality is not a act, it is a habit.” If you set the quality of work from the youngest, you will get better quality and more educated players in the older categories. If you don’t set things up in the right way, you will very quickly end up with a team with a small number of players, where you will lose by a high score, with no possibility to progress. If you still call such a system rugby, you are wasting your time.
Tournaments and standings
In the spring part of the season, a total of 3 tournaments were played in the Serbian Cup for U12s. It may sound small, but we must point out that it is not quite so. Care was taken to ensure that the tournaments start after the school presentations. You can’t just take kids out of school to play rugby, it takes some time for new players to learn the rules. When we look at it from this point of view, 3 tournaments are quite enough for our conditions.
If the team is short of playing three tournaments, they can always play test matches with other clubs or visit international tournaments. You don’t have to wait for the Union to organize tournaments for you, you can agree with other clubs to play friendly matches. That’s the best thing when you form a new team, make an agreement with the Judges’ Organization, where you can get an educational activity. Players can learn swear words, they can respect the rules, set it up so that it will be a great preparation for official tournaments. That way you get a lot of matches. Due to the circumstances, all the clubs that have U12 teams are in the territory of Belgrade and Pancevo, so it is not expensive to play a test match.
In the U12s competition, the Serbian Cup was won by the RK Rad. Before the last tournament, RK Čelik, RK Rad and BRK Crvena Zvezda had the same number of points. Unfortunately, guests from Zenica did not come to the last tournament, so the Belgrade clubs decided the title. At the same time, these three clubs were the upper tier in the competition and in terms of quality throughout the season. The teams RK Borac Starčevo, RK Dorćol 1998, RK Dinamo 1954 and RK Žarkovo made up the tier house according to the results and the game shown.
| Поз (Pos) | Екипа (Team) | У(GP) | Б(Pts) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  РК Рад | 3 | 26 |
| 2 |  БРК Црвена Звезда | 3 | 22 |
| 3 |  РК Челик | 2 | 16 |
| 4 |  РК Жарково | 3 | 11 |
| 5 |  РК Дорћол 1998 | 3 | 9 |
| 6 |  RK Dinamo 1954 | 2 | 8 |
| 6 |  РК Борац Старчево | 3 | 8 |
In some cases very high results were seen. As a reminder, according to our Competition Propositions, U12s are allowed to play 40 minutes of rugby per tournament. If the teams play three games in the tournament, the duration of the game is 13 minutes. If you concede 30 points in 13 minutes, if you played games in 40 minutes, you would lose 90-0. Perhaps we should think about forming A and B groups, somewhere in the middle of the autumn half-season, when the school presentations are finished and when it is already possible to see which teams are tied. High game scores are not good for anyone. Players will not “get stronger”, but will lose interest.
Rugby centers outside Belgrade and Pancevo have stopped working with U12s
In the space of just one year, in the U12s competition, RK Vojvodina, RK Loznica and GRK Vršac stopped working. If we extend the period to three years, we can also add RK Kruševac. These are four rugby centers outside of Belgrade and Pancevo that have stopped working in the U12s competition. Rugby must expand beyond Belgrade and Pancevo, and appropriate steps should be taken to revitalize those centers and/or form new ones.
Playgrounds and fields where tournaments are played
Care must be taken where tournaments are held in younger categories. We already repeat like parrots, investment in younger categories is not an expense, but an investment in the future. At least the minimum standards must be respected, such as the field being mowed and adequately marked, playing with high-quality balls and having changing rooms where children can change their clothes. These are the basic obligations that the host of the tournament must fulfill in order to fulfill the basic conditions of playing the tournament. Imagine parents who see their children playing in a meadow, where there is tall grass, without changing rooms, and then we don’t understand why rugby is not popular.
Presentation and marketing of tournaments of youth rugby
One of the more important things that needs to be implemented is related to the popularity of rugby. We must be visible, we must expose ourselves as much as possible on social networks and the media in general. For that, we need a high-quality photo and video. Today, children on social networks exclusively communicate with photos and short videos. They will certainly not be interested in reading this text to the end, but they will be interested if they look good in the photo or if some of their good moves are recorded. They share it on social networks, their friends, parents and relatives see it, and in this way the popularity of the sport also rises. The more a sport is followed, the more popular it is. Isn’t it?
Prediction of the competition in the 2022 Serbian Championship
Since September, the years in the age grades traditionally change in Serbia. Players born in 2010 have the right to play in the Serbian U12 Championship. and players born in 2011. , also. While players born in 2012 years have the right to perform with the special permission of the parents. We have no information if any team has an already formed team, but everyone will have to roll up their sleeves and work on promotions in order for new generations of rugby players to enter the scene. We sincerely hope that the clubs and the Union will make a good strategy during the summer and that the promotions will be very successful. Just so we can enjoy some good U12s rugby during the fall.
