PHILOSOPY

The Spider Monkey Youth Rugby Club tries to do the following with each kid that wants to play this incredible game:

  1. Improve physical health. Forgive us for starting with the obvious, but rugby brings physical health benefits to anyone who takes to the field – and children are no different.
  2. Develop social skills. Developing social skills is another huge part of parenting, and one that again needs to be developed at a young age if the benefits are to be reaped in the future.
  3. They need to lose. Because it is character building, because it’s good practice for life, because they will get over it and they need to know that.
  4. They need to win. Because it’s bonding, because it feels good, because they need to know that there are rewards for effort.
  5. Equal Opportunities. Unlike just about any other team sport, rugby is about all players having the same opportunity to run with the ball, pass the ball, and play defense.
  6. Build self-esteem and confidence. Regularly engaging in sports can help subtly boost your child’s self-esteem. This happens as the child sets small goals on the field, such as perfecting a skill, and achieves them.
  7. Learn valuable life-lessons. All sports have lessons that can be taken from the field and applied to real life. But rugby has lessons that can’t be found in any other game – we’re not talking about the standard generics of “teamwork” and “playing hard.” We’re talking about the preparation for life that can only be found on the rugby pitch.
  8. Positive role mode. It’s quite likely your kids will discover positive role models in coaches and older players.
  9. Make lifelong friends.
  10. Breed academic success. It’s hard to believe that what your child does on the pitch can impact what they do in the classroom, but it does. Children who were involved with at least one sport are more likely to get better grades suggests a study conducted by the American College of Sports Medicine.

Of course, this is a lot for a child, but this is all attainable under the correct circumstances and yes, rugby is the right surroundings for any child to learn these things.