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ARU Junior Gold Cup - National Junior Championships

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Shane Smeltz

Shane Smeltz

Fred Wood (13)
Below is an email received yesterday:
From: Luke Thiessen <Luke.Thiessen@rugby.com.au>
Date: Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 10:15 AM
Subject: NSW Junior Gold Program
To:


Good morning all,



Hope you are well,



As you are coming to the end of your junior rugby season, I would like to introduce you to the NSW Junior Gold program (for those who have not heard of it before). This program is a part player development and part competition program. It is aimed at boys in the age groups of U14-U17 (in 2015), and runs from November through to the end of March.



This program is not only an integral part of the NSW Rugby representative pathway but also the Australian Rugby Union. Evidence of this is the introduction of a NSW Junior Gold team vs a QLD Junior Gold team at the end of the program (for both 15s and 17s) for the 2015 season.



As you were part of a junior representation program this year, we would love you to trial for one of the 10 centres throughout NSW. Registrations have now opened and can be completed online at http://www.nswrugby.com.au/NSWRugby/Community/JuniorGoldProgram.aspx. A registration fee of $10 will also be implemented to cover the costs of administration and for the running of the trial days.



If you do have any further questions about the program, email me back asap



Thanks,






Luke Thiessen | Coach Education Coordinator, NSW | Australian Rugby Union LtdIBM Centre | Allianz Stadium, Driver Avenue, Moore Park NSW 2021 (Locked Bag 1222, PADDINGTON NSW 2021)T +61 2 8030 3324 | M +61 449 934 513 | F +61 2 9323 3470 | W www.rugby.com.au

A couple of interesting points:

1) He has sent it all NSW rep players directly. Last year this was not done and should have been.
2) There will be a Gold NSW team v Qld team game at the end as IS said.
 
Dingasden

Dingasden

Ward Prentice (10)
A real lack of info on all this and Don't bother emailing any questions in - answers are rare to come by


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
S'UP

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
It would appear that 3 regions have managers in place and contact email addresses are in place. Unfortunately this was the issue last year, very little information, only those in the know knew anything. Where is the FAQ link? Where is the communication through club land? Where is the communication through schools? There is communication with the rep player but nothing with anyone else, I thought this program was about player development, obviously it is about the best having another run and those in club land and second tier school rugby can continue to have little or no development, how sad.
I understand Luke is only one person, but didn't they get to conference managers, what are they up to? It would appear that planning still isn't their strong suit, changing the trial date due to the sydney marathon, really stick to your guns guys if they are the dates keep them, people make choices in life if they choose to run they run and miss out, if it had to do with coaches /managers/ selectors etc shame on you for not planning and ensuring everyone was on the same page. Poor communication lessens engagement, they can hardly afford to have less engagement with a start up program. Changed communication causes distrust, unfortunately now we have both things are looking up.:(
 
Inside Shoulder

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
S'Up I think that maybe the marathon created traffic issues - there seem to be a lot of clearways in the inner south eats, for instance.
Presumably the trials all have to be on the same day for obvious reasons.
I still wonder at putting the kids through another round of dubious selection trials when they have played 1, 2 or even 3 seasons in the last winter: the break down into regions should have permitted pretty focussed identification of candidates, returnees and enabled narrowing the pool requiring consideration thereby streamlining the selection process.
 
S'UP

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
Inside Shoulder said:
S'Up I think that maybe the marathon created traffic issues - there seem to be a lot of clearways in the inner south eats, for instance.
Presumably the trials all have to be on the same day for obvious reasons.
I still wonder at putting the kids through another round of dubious selection trials when they have played 1, 2 or even 3 seasons in the last winter: the break down into regions should have permitted pretty focussed identification of candidates, returnees and enabled narrowing the pool requiring consideration thereby streamlining the selection process.
Click to expand...
I agree but it is still all about planning, I'm sure the marathon was planned well over a year ago, I do this stuff for a living and the information isn't hard to find. As for narrowing down selection I think that would just create more of the same issues you see everywhere else in Junior rugby, the same old kids getting picked, I did suggest after last year that they needed to find truely independent selector, surely there is 20 or so people out there from senior club land who could spend a couple of weekends selecting? That might even help with colts numbers going forward, some boys might get nice letters sent to them.;)
i have just received an email from the manager of the North West Cobras it would appear that no one from the coaches/S&C and managers are coming back this year, there was a suggestion of issues but there was no detail which was good to see no point airing dirty laundry.
 
Inside Shoulder

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
S'UP said:
I agree but it is still all about planning, I'm sure the marathon was planned well over a year ago, I do this stuff for a living and the information isn't hard to find. As for narrowing down selection I think that would just create more of the same issues you see everywhere else in Junior rugby, the same old kids getting picked, I did suggest after last year that they needed to find truely independent selector, surely there is 20 or so people out there from senior club land who could spend a couple of weekends selecting? That might even help with colts numbers going forward, some boys might get nice letters sent to them.;)
i have just received an email from the manager of the North West Cobras it would appear that no one from the coaches/S&C and managers are coming back this year, there was a suggestion of issues but there was no detail which was good to see no point airing dirty laundry.
Click to expand...

It should be dealt with by the NRC JVers - in a perfect world.
Not sure they felt all that loved up there with some unhelpful suggestions as to how to deal with 36 hour road trips from the powers that be.
 
S'UP

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
Inside Shoulder said:
It should be dealt with by the NRC JVers - in a perfect world.
Not sure they felt all that loved up there with some unhelpful suggestions as to how to deal with 36 hour road trips from the powers that be.
Click to expand...
Yes that was fun going to Armadale, via Lake Keepit for a 4 hour overnight stay, i understand the bacon and eggs were good in the morning. There was also some unrest(understatement) in the older age group in relation to selection and players coming into the sqaud at semi final time.
 
Brainstrust

Brainstrust

Watty Friend (18)
S'UP said:
I agree but it is still all about planning, I'm sure the marathon was planned well over a year ago, I do this stuff for a living and the information isn't hard to find. As for narrowing down selection I think that would just create more of the same issues you see everywhere else in Junior rugby, the same old kids getting picked, I did suggest after last year that they needed to find truely independent selector, surely there is 20 or so people out there from senior club land who could spend a couple of weekends selecting? That might even help with colts numbers going forward, some boys might get nice letters sent to them.;)
i have just received an email from the manager of the North West Cobras it would appear that no one from the coaches/S&C and managers are coming back this year, there was a suggestion of issues but there was no detail which was good to see no point airing dirty laundry.
Click to expand...
I think your some of these points are valid, however in rugby it doesn't matter who you get to select, there is always going to be some sort of perceived bias, because someone always knows someone etc. Last year being the first year, I thought it was incredibly unbiased by way of selection process. The selectors did not have any boys in the trials, there was a mix of school and club orientated selectors, and they worked to a rating system that was across an open skills day, and then a match day. Their biggest challenge was selecting playing squads rather than just development squads. That meant that potentially better players missed out if their position was oversubscribed eg #7, as opposed to some positions such as front row needing numbers to meet the squad requirements meant that lesser quality players had to be selected. One thing is for sure, the distribution of information and all round promotion of the game by the ARU is pretty poor. If you don't watch rugby hq on fox, there's a good change you don't even know the game exists. They need a couple of business guys involved in the administration level of the game from juniors up, and let the rugby guys go out and coach rugby.
 
S'UP

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
Brainstrust said:
I think your some of these points are valid, however in rugby it doesn't matter who you get to select, there is always going to be some sort of perceived bias, because someone always knows someone etc. Last year being the first year, I thought it was incredibly unbiased by way of selection process. The selectors did not have any boys in the trials, there was a mix of school and club orientated selectors, and they worked to a rating system that was across an open skills day, and then a match day. Their biggest challenge was selecting playing squads rather than just development squads. That meant that potentially better players missed out if their position was oversubscribed eg #7, as opposed to some positions such as front row needing numbers to meet the squad requirements meant that lesser quality players had to be selected. One thing is for sure, the distribution of information and all round promotion of the game by the ARU is pretty poor. If you don't watch rugby hq on fox, there's a good change you don't even know the game exists. They need a couple of business guys involved in the administration level of the game from juniors up, and let the rugby guys go out and coach rugby.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately when the selector shakes dads hand before the day starts or refers to the player on a first name basis it doesn't make it look very unbiased, perception is everything. On development and playing squads i would guess the whole program is moving towards playing squads, if they send a letter to all NSW players and nothing to everyone else it would suggest this is now becoming about the elite (I hate that word) players.
 
Shane Smeltz

Shane Smeltz

Fred Wood (13)
At our very recent club End of Season Preso, which was well attended by a large number of juniors and all the minis, plus all their parents, the JGC was spoken of as the Pathway to the Wallabies (more or less) and players at our particular Club and Association were 'named' as having been in the 2013/2014 15s or 17s squads to much fanfare.

There were a lot of parents and wide-eyed little boys taking all this in and it was clear that this is a direct pathway to elite rugby union within the ARU.
In my area there are a lot of private school boys who play club, and may give up club in time as private school takes over, so letting the parents and boys know of this existence of this early on (when they are mini or young juniors) is definitely the way to go IMO.
 
S'UP

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
Inside Shoulder said:
None of the coaches or their staff have been named despite indications this would happen last week
Click to expand...
That was this week in ARU time, if you read the announcement again today it will say there will be an announcement next week which isn't this week but it is next week. Eventually next week will become this week but I'm not sure when. :) To simplify it like saying we'll do something in November but not putting a year after November.
 
Inside Shoulder

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
it actually said during the weekend. Very confusing- nearly as confusing as the email cancelling last week because of the marathon. Read that to yourself quietly!
 
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