A brief rundown of what happened in the session: Hendo started the session with a simple game of (a rugby version) cat and mouse to warm the girls up and get them introduced to each other. Then, they had to race each other in pairs whilst Hendo shouted an instruction that they had to follow like “HOP RED” where they would have to hop as fast as they could to the red cones. The girls’ reaction time and speed were challenged next; they would run towards the coach who would feed the ball to one girl and the other had to quickly attempt to stop them scoring a try. Then they began a passing drill to get the girls comfortable with throwing and receiving a rugby ball, followed by a second pairs game called “Sharks and Dolphins”; roles were given of either the attacker or defender and the aims were either to score a try or prevent one. This encouraged them to learn the rugby rules of staying in the square and passing backwards. The session was ended with a fun mini rugby match where they were taught how to form a line of defence whilst the opposition tried to break through to score a try.
The girls got an added cultural lesson from Hendo as he performed the Haka which the girls had to repeat as he did. The Haka, as many will know, is a Māori ceremonial dance that is usually done to display a tribe’s pride, strength and unity but was brought into rugby by the New Zealand Native rugby team in 1888 as a way of challenging their opposition. Both the womens and the mens New Zealand teams perform the Haka and it is well worth a watch - below is the link to the New Zealand womens team doing the Haka. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzg4rJJNX30
Rugby is a perfect opportunity for these young girls to learn the importance of teamwork, communication and self-belief and the smiles on their faces made it transparently clear that they were thoroughly enjoying themselves!
