Coaches’ perceptions on qualities defining good adolescent rugby players and are important for player recruitment in talent identification programs: the SCRuM project

Abstract

ObjectiveCompetitive rugby is increasingly becoming popular among adolescent players even in countries hardly known for rugby such as Zimbabwe. Given the increased participation rates, burgeoning talent identification (TID) programs and the reportedly high injury-risk associated with competitive youth rugby, the minimal qualities or skills needed for effective performance by all young players need further clarification. Therefore, this qualitative study was conducted to explore the perceptions of high-school based rugby coaches on the key qualities or skills defining good adolescent rugby players and should be considered for player recruitment in TID programs. Currently, there is no consensus in literature from the coaches’ perspective on these qualities.ResultsThe final sample had 22 coaches (median age = 45.5 years) with years of coaching high-school rugby ranging from 6 to 17 years. Using the conventional approach to inductive content analysis four broad themes emerged suggesting the multifaceted nature of the requirements imperative for effective and optimal rugby performance among adolescent rugby players as perceived by the coaches. Themes identified included: physiological characteristics, anthropometric attributes, psychological qualities and game-specific skills. Possibly, training approaches or design of rugby-specific test-batteries should consider all these important qualities and be multi-dimensional in composition.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4170-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Anthropometric, physiological characteristics and rugby-specific game skills of schoolboy players of different age categories and playing standards

“…Given the complexity and multifaceted nature of the sport of rugby, only examining the anthropometric, physiological and game specific skills is a possible limitation and a more holistic protocol including tactical, perceptual-cognitive skills and psychological measures would have been ideal to comprehensively understand and identify qualities or skills discriminating players of different ages and playing standards [37]. A recent study showed that psychological attributes such as players' attitudes and personality traits, mental strength and emotional stability are key qualities that coaches consider in good adolescent rugby players and in player recruitment for TID initiatives [54]. Further studies objectively assessing these qualities and how they differ with age and playing standards in junior rugby are warranted.…”

Qualities or skills discriminating under 19 rugby players by playing standards: a comparative analysis of elite, sub-elite and non-rugby players using the SCRuM test battery

“…This study formed part of the School Clinical Rugby Measure (SCRuM) project described elsewhere [11, 12, 18] and was conducted in two sequential parts. Adopting a pragmatic “in-season” approach previously used by Enright et al [19], the preliminary study established the absolute and relative reliability of each test item in the assembled SCRuM test battery.…”

“…Moreover, the reported high physical and technical demands of adolescent RU [1, 5] require junior players to have optimal qualities or technical proficiencies for effective participation. Therefore, research defining key attributes important in competitive schoolboy RU is warranted especially in Zimbabwe where schoolboy RU is emerging and played at different competitive levels [11, 12]. Such evidence has implications on talent identification (TID) and long-term player development [13].…”

More than rugby: A scoping review of coaches in rugby

“…Forty-three studies reported on coaches' training knowledge. 18,29,31,36,37,40,[42][43][44][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][61][62][63][64][66][67][68][69][70]73,74,76,80,81,[85][86][87]89,90,92,93,128,131 Eight of these studies were based on rugby league. 43,56,62,64,[66][67][68]81 Coaches agreed that monitoring players are important for training.…”