After a great weekend of rugby in the sun I found myself thinking about our forth coming Easter Camp. Obviously, I am a fan of the camps for numerous reasons; it involves rugby, getting out the house and off-line for a few hours, hopefully good weather but most importantly… it means meeting like minded individuals and getting the crack while throwing the pig skin about.

When I was a younger fella, with a bit more hair on top I spent one summer holiday at a week-long rugby camp at Merchiston. As I am sure many of you know, Merchie is fairly prestigious boarding school in Edinburgh, with a fairly large reputation for rugby… I mean I think I counted twelve pitches within the school boundaries and running countless teams at every age group. Heck, two of my cousins attended the school and both had trials for age grade international teams. Yes, they are both naturally pretty talented athletes and have a good work ethic but, you couldn’t argue the calibre of coaching and competition for position made a difference. (for more info on private school rugby, read my previous blog).

Back to the camp though and to the point of this blog, I want to talk about my experience of taking part in a rugby camp. I can still remember feeling like a very small fish is a bloody big pond. There were lads from all over the country at the camp, but the majority were Merchiston students themselves. This caused everyone else to form their much smaller sub groups, the Glasgow boys stuck with the Glasgow boys, the boarders boys stuck with the boarders boys and the country boys from the north stuck with the country boys from the north. Of course, this was going to happen on day one. But, as you can imagine the game of rugby kind of involves a bit of team work and any coach worth his salt has a closet full of team building games to get people talking. I’ve always been lucky enough to not have a shy bone in my body, so talking to strangers has never been a problem for me. But, I can still remember how as each day went on, boys got increasingly vocal and when we had our “elevenses” water breaks the groups were getting bigger and bigger.

Now, I am firm believer that you can let what you do on the pitch do the talking for you and I would think most competitive sportsmen would be of the same opinion. So, when it came to live games, boys felt they had something to prove and everyone (including myself) turned into a bunch of show ponies! Trying to put the biggest hits in, fastest passes and most tries. All good crack if you ask me, but does that produce the best team performance? Absolutely not!

This is the key thing… on day one, there was a handful of small groups and boys playing like individuals. By the end of day two, we were playing a 15 a-side games with structure and roles and to be honest, was up to a pretty decent standard. This is what rugby camps can do! Just from having a mob of folk with the one harmonious passion for sport. You can create a team and bond friendships which can last for donkey’s years!

This is why I think sports camps are essential for any young kid. It gives them the opportunity to get completely immersed in the sport and the culture that comes with it! Plus, what else would you be doing during the holidays? Sitting at home watching the telly with the remains of your easter egg… Surely that is something that could be done in the evening after a long days graft on the paddock.

If this sounds like something you or someone you know needs! Go to the Ross-Sutherland facebook page or website and follow the links to Eventbrite to sign up for our biggest and fingers crossed best camp to date.

Look forward to seeing you there!

John Mann, Community & Rugby Development Officer