Newport Junior Rugby Club – Under 11s

Grading players is necessary to: 

• Comply with the competition rules requiring players to be graded based on their ability, experience and playing position; and
• Ensure that players’ development, enjoyment and safety is maximised by playing in a team with players of similar ability and experience against well matched opposition teams

Grading can be a difficult process, although experience indicates that it is often more difficult for the parents than their sons. Our primary objective is for the players to have the best experience possible playing rugby. Grading is a big contributor to player development and safety.

Grading will commence from the day we start formal training as we look for skills, fitness and a learning mindset. Selection will be undertaken by the age group coaches assisted by independent selectors.

Our first game of the season is against Mosman for the Libbo Cup when we will soft grade the teams into Probables and Possibles though it wont be clear cut A/B as we mix the lads across positions and combinations to see how they run and combine.

Following that we will run formal grading on March 29th 16:30 – 18:00 at Newport Oval . The U10 coaches, taking into account the views of the independent selectors, will be able to agree on the composition of the different squads in the age group. This process will result in two graded squads.

The composition of the squads will be reviewed by the age group coaches after the first four rounds of the competition. During those windows, players may be moved between teams based on their performance. Decisions to move players will be taken by the age group coaches. It is recognised that it easier to upgrade than downgrade players and this is also taken into account for this age group.

Largely the lads don’t care. They just want to play footie and have fun, caring little for grades so long as they are playing with matched lads. Please let your player know that its not a judgement on how good or not they are. We want to put two competitive teams on the park this season and have a lot of fun. There are a lot of variables to consider including how much fun each of the boys has this year so that they come back for more next year. We want them in the right team for that outcome.