I am quietly chuffed with myself with that. For someone who was previously described as “not academic” or more “hands on” it proves if you knuckle down, commit to a new challenge and find a way to make it enjoyable, it’s worth given anything a nudge! Ps, thank god for auto-correct and spell checker.

This week, I am going to talk about what I have been up to during the Easter holidays. First off I was involved in the under 13s and 14s Caledonia pathways camp in Inverness.

For those that don’t know, these are annual skills camps where players are put forwards by their own clubs because they have been seen to be showing some talent. Of course, there was several Ross boys there but, at the risk of causing controversy I feel we are always far too stringent on the talent we put through.

I know some of the reasons why but in my opinion, the more we put through the system, the better opportunities we are opening up to folk and potentially opening some doors down the line. The sessions focus on the Key National Themes (KNTs) which are Hand Catch, Off-load, Ball Presentation and Tackle. These are the four skills the SRU have identified as essentials for players to be able to perform efficiently and regularly to move onto the next level in their career.

Originally, I was dead against the KNTs and how they were used to assess players. Thankfully though, since my stint overseas they have altered assessment of the skills and the whole session delivery is much more relaxed, which is a far better environment for youth players. Delighted to say the handful of boys from Ross that attended performed very well and hopefully took some good coaching points from it.

Onto the big news, the Ross-Sutherland Easter Camp 2017. There is no need to go into too much detail about what we had planned, because that is all it seems I have talked about for the past six weeks. To summarise each day, the primaries session were a fantastic success, great numbers from our current club players and a handful of new players. Weather was windy over the two days but that didn’t slow them down one bit!

However, off the paddock was one of my biggest successes in adult life. Making two days’ worth of lunch and snacks for kids aged p4-7 that went down an absolute storm. Was so popular I even had parents asking for the recipe. Why people think children will only eat sweets and junk food and fast food and nothing they could grow in their own back garden, I do not know.

Onto the secondary boys and girls. I am going to say due to it being holidays people were otherwise away, working or studying. The numbers were a touch lower than expected. I get that its two and a half weeks of potential sleep ins and a well needed break from the troubles of being a teenager. But, when we run these secondary camps, it’s a chance to sleep time on the pitch and go through the nitty gritty stuff we don’t get time to go through during our traditional training hours.

Settle down though, it was not all doom and gloom! We still had three cracking days of rugby where we went through our KNTs, plus were able to look at our scrum, line out, running lines, kicking and positioning on set plays in real good detail. A well done to all those who made it to the camps, I hope you all took something from it.

What I need from you all now is some feedback. How could we make these more successful in the future? Do we need to change how we advertise the events? What we put on offer? The times? Anything that is going to help us make it a better and more fruitful experience for all.

Last thing from me for this edition. Can we all be thinking of Ali Kennedy who became the third and final Kennedy to tie the knot last weekend. Bloody good player and an even better fella off the pitch!

Chur
Ross-Sutherland Community & Rugby Development Officer.