Scott Teister – Assistant Development Officer
Waid Academy Rugby Development
Mid-Season Report 15/16
Primary Schools
Since August we have been into 8 primary schools in the Waid Academy cluster. Schools include Crail, Anstruther, Pittenweem, St Monans, Elie, Colinsburgh, Largo and Lundin Mill. P4, P5, P6 & P7 have all had 4 hours of rugby coaching in their school from Scott Teister and have had a further 3 hours at the Festival at the end of each rugby block.
P6/7 taster sessions – 109 males & 136 females took part in the 4 week sessions.
P4/5 taster sessions – 91 males & 101 females took part in the 4 week sessions.
P6/7 Festival – 70 males & 99 females took part.
P4/5 Festival – 33 males & 43 females took part (Anstruther PS only).
We have changed the format of our rugby festivals this season. Previously we had all these children play touch rugby games and not getting a taste for what was on offer at the rugby club. This season we introduced skills stations which included learning how to tackle, kick and playing a game of rugby (touch) which we saw was a huge success with lots of positive feedback from teachers, parents and most importantly the children.
Going into November we had issues with the weather, facilities and conditions of our pitches so we had to schedule a festival to take place at Crail. Due to issues with transport of around 100 children Anstruther struggled to gain transport for this large amount of children so we worked with them and set up a separate festival for this school to maximize our participation numbers at our festivals. This festival went ahead but due to the weather conditions on the date of the planned Crail festival we had to cancel this event for safety concerns of the children.
To create a pathway from our first P6/7 festival we set up a Waid Pirates October camp which saw participants come from all over the East Neuk with children from P3 – P7. We had 21 players attend this 4-day camp, which again was a great success with lots of positive feedback from parent s and players.From this camp we have an additional 8 players join the club since this event.
Following on from the P4/5 festival at Anstruther PS we set up an extracurricular session at Anstruther PS for P3/4/5 & P6/7. A total of 17 players signed up and attended the sessions. The majority being P3/4/5, only 2 P6/7 attended. From these 17 players 14 are new to the game and are yet to join the club.
Camps and extracurricular sessions have proved so far and in the past to be good transition events from players enjoying rugby at school to joining the club. These are vital in order to grow our player base at Waid Pirates.
Secondary Schools
Currently we are running an U13, U14 & U16 teams at The Waid Academy. Each age group gets 2 sessions a week with an additional squad session to run through moves and how we play as a team.
Our year groups are currently made up of the following numbers:
- S1/2 – 32 players.
- S3/4 – 40 players.
We do have issues getting all these players at once but have been known to put out an U15 as well but due to postponements from our teams they have not yet played any fixtures.
Training has been beneficial for everyone at our school. Training numbers have increased from the start of the year. Currently we have:
- S1/2 – 28 players on average at each session.
- S3/4 – 16 players on average at each session.
In the months of late November & December we have had issues with weather, facilities and conditions of training grounds. Our numbers are down as we go into smaller indoor skills sessions and strength and conditioning sessions whilst we wait for our training grounds to recover and the addition of our new improved facilities that we should see early next year.
The results of all fixtures that have been played are attached at the end of this document.
Active Schools
This year we have been working with Active Schools very closely to set up sessions and run events. Without their help we would have had much more work and a severe shortage of staff.
Currently Active School at The Waid Academy has 14 ambassadors that we utilize to coach and run events. 4 of which have been put through a Youth Coaching Course led by Scott Teister of Waid Academy Rugby. These 4 are capable and qualified to lead and deliver taster and extracurricular sessions to primary school pupils. The high skill set of these individuals makes playing rugby at school, the club & other events safe and enjoyable to all that take part.
This year they have coached at both festivals, lead the extracurricular sessions at Anstruther PS and also, 1 of them, assisted in delivery of sessions to the U14 & U16 squads.
Rugby Club
Camps
This season we have held an October Camp, which was a 4-day camp for children aged P3 - 7. We had a total of 21 children attend this camp from the club and other children that had previously attended taster sessions at local PS. This camp made a total of £560, with most of the total made going towards facilities.
Waid Pirates
We have good numbers at P1/2/3 and P6/7. Currently we are struggling for numbers at P4/5. These numbers will increase after Christmas with the completion of the extracurricular rugby at schools and further events being run at Waid Academy Rugby. So far this season we have a lot of positive outcome with our players being very dominant in other teams festivals, which is a great bonus for the coaches seeing these players in action.
The Waid Pirates have currently travelled to play fixture and in festivals at Glenrothes, Howe & panmuir.
Waid FPs
At the start of the season Waid FPs were currently struggling for players but due to an advertisement campaign in the local community and the addition of new coaching staff Dewar Spence (Head Coach) & Stephen Stewart we have dramatically increased our player base with always a full squad at home games and at least a 15 man team travelling away.
We still have issues when playing away fixtures but the coaching staff, committee and captain are currently working on overcoming these barriers.
Future Development Events
Going into the next half of the season is looking really positive with lots of rugby events in the process of planning in place. Currently not all dates have been confirmed but these are the rough scheduled dates.
- 3rd of Feb – Start Rugby Coaching Course at The Waid Academy
- 23rd March – Festival of Rugby at Anstruther PS
- 4th – 8th of April – Waid Pirates Easter Camp
- 18th April – Festival of Rugby at Crail PS
- 29th May – Waid Pirates Festival
- 14th of June – Fraser Trophy at Crail (inter-school competition)
All these dates are rough and have not been confirmed so can be subject to change. Also this is just a taster of what is to come with loads more such as further block of taster sessions for P4/5 & P6/7, festivals for P1-3, open days, camps and thegrand opening of the artificial rugby pitch at The Waid Academy. We’ll be keeping you up-to-date with all these exciting events in due course via our website and social media pages.
Waid Academy Results
(H) – Home fixture, (A) – Away fixture.
5th September:
Waid Academy u14s 30 v St Leonards 23(H)
Waid Academy u16s 53 v St Leonards 21(H)
10th September:
Waid Academy u16s 73 v Breadalbane 0 (Plate Fixture)(A)
12th September:
Waid Academy u13s 8 v Buckhaven 13(A)
Waid Academy u14s 34 v Buckhaven 4(A)
19th September:
Waid Academy u16s 90 v Madras 14 (Plate Fixture)(A)
Waid Academy u14s v Madras (postponed – Madras had no team)
26th September:
Waid Academy u13s 54 v Buckhaven 7(H)
Waid Academy u14s 68 v Buckhaven 31(H)
3rd October:
Waid Academy u13s 56 v Perth 0(H)
Waid Academy u14s 76 v Perth 19(H)
Waid Academy u16s 65 v Perth 26(H)
29th October:
Waid Academy u14s 31 v St Leonards 8(A)
10 November:
Waid Academy u16s 41 v Glenwood 10 (Plate Fixture)(A)
18th November:
Waid Academy u16s 10 v Kelso High School 57 (Plate Fixture) (A)