cleats

Question
My 14 year old son Radovan joined the rugby team at Culver Military Academy in Indiana.  He ordered cleats on the Internet, used them on the frozen ground and broke one cleat.  He was told to buy cleats that are removable, so he ordered another pair.  Now one of the cleats on the new pair is stripped.  Do you have a trick for dealing with this problem?  This boy has been playing ice hockey for eight years, but now he says that rugby is more fun than any other sport he has ever played.  He is starting on the varsity team this weekend in Chicago.  So now I have to learn all about rugby.  Yours is the first site that I found.  Any suggestions on how I can learn the rules, watch games and find a camp or a team for my son for the summer?

Answer
I Cindy, very sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I will provide some links at the end of this email and I can suggest the book Rugby for Dummies which you can order on Amazon, is is easy and covers the whole game of rugby as well as the ethos of the game like brotherhood, sportsmanship etc.

Also good on you for supporting your boy it is not easy seeing the young ones playing such a hard sport but good on you for getting into it.

As for the cleats I might suggest molded rubber soccer cleats, they might be better on frozen ground than full sized steel cleats. I use them on the hot/hard ground in California and move to the full steel cleats when the ground gets softer.

A call to a local mens (or womens) club might get some help from a veteran. I have not played in much cold weather so I might not be too much help. You can find clubs usually by Googling "Rugby, Club, your area" and also USA Rugby has lists of clubs.

USA Rugby has a site with plenty of information on youth rugby and it is worth calling around the local mens clubs you will often have or support a youth team.

I suggest taking the time reading through my previously answered questions as the questions often come from kids your boys age (and some "kids" my age) and the questions are often similar, you will see a pattern to the typical questions: tackling, technique, fitness, strategy.  

I also suggest videoing his games for a bit of post game analysis, not too serious but keep it fun. A little bonding over his games and it helps him see how good he is and where he needs to work on things.

He should also whach as much professional rugby as he can focusing on the guys who play in his position so he can learn the game visually too.

Please feel free to keep asking questions, good luck.

The links:

Srummaging:



http://www.coachingrugby.com/rugby/coaching/unitskills/scrum/buildingthescrum.ht...



http://www.usarugby.org/media/EDocs/scrum.pdf





http://www.texasyouthrugby.com/download/748/docs/Building_the_scrum.pdf



All technique: Scrum, Running up the Ball, Tackling



http://www.rugbysmart.co.nz/plan/technique.html



http://www.rugbytactics.com/



http://www.talkrugbyunion.co.uk/



Skills and Technique, video:



http://www.joberrugby.com/