EDINBURGH ACCIES MINIS & MIDIS
Providing a safe, enjoyable and inclusive experience for all P1-S6 children (currently includes children from 19 different primary schools), Edinburgh Accies Minis & Midis aim to put the fun into rugby.
Welcoming boys and girls of all abilities, whether a regular attendee or a complete beginner, we strive to provide an environment where children can be active, develop skills and enjoy the camaraderie of their peers, whilst encouraging teamwork and most importantly having fun. Set in the heart of Stockbridge and led predominately by willing parents we train and play throughout the season at the fabulous surroundings of Raeburn Place. If this sounds like something your child would be interested in then we’d love to hear from you.
Please read on for a bit more information about what you can expect in each year, our ethos and philosophy and the key information about our club. If you have any other questions or then please just send and e-mail to youth@edinburghaccies.com and we’ll get back to you.
Our Ethos & Philosophy
We hope Edinburgh Accies Minis/Midis is the start of a long and proud association with our club for our players and our ethos and philosophy centres around our main club values of respect, teamwork, passion and enjoyment.
We encourage our players to work together as a team, to support each other and to help each other to improve. We believe everyone has a role to play in the team, and that everyone’s contribution is important. We encourage our players to respect their teammates, their opponents, the referee, and the game itself. We want our players to be passionate, determined and enthusiastic and love their time at Accies!
We are a club and we all have a role to play in the development of these players and maintaining our values and our player, coach and parent responsibilities. You can read a bit more below.
Each year group will predominantly be coached by a group of voluntary parents/guardians and we encourage all parents to get involved. If you cannot give some time to coach, then please consider supporting the club as an adult member/donor, sponsor or by volunteering - every little helps and it all goes back to the players!
We support our volunteer coaches and our players by supplementing sessions with professional coaches to help get coaching groups started, provide timely age-and-stage expertise and support the delivery of our curriculum - the level of professional support increases as player grow with secondary school year group have a constant professional lead coach.
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We believe that players have a responsibility to themselves, to their team, and to the game. We expect our players to be:
• Punctual and prepared for training and matches
• Hardworking and committed to improving their rugby skills
• Respectful of their teammates, coaches, opponents, the referee, and the game
• Positive and supportive of their teammates
• A good role model for other players
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We believe that parents/guardians have a responsibility to support their children's rugby experience. We expect parents to be:
• Positive and supportive of their children
• Encouraging and helpful at training and matches - respond promptly to Teamer invitations.
• Respectful of the coaches and other parents
• A good role model for their children
• Be present at all training sessions / matches their child is attending
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We believe that our coaches have a responsibility to ensure players play rugby in a safe and supportive environment. They are there to help each player to develop their rugby skills and to build a strong and inclusive team spirit. We expect coaches to:
• Be mindful of player safety at all times
• Ensure players are properly hydrated and not over-exerted
• Ensure players are wearing the appropriate protective equipment for their age group (i.e. mouthguards for all contact sessions)
• Teach the fundamentals of rugby in a fun and engaging way
• Help each player to develop their rugby skills at their own pace to the best of their ability
• Build a strong team spirit in a positive and supportive environment
• Encourage players to work together
• Give every player equal opportunities to play in competitive matches and tournaments
What Can You And Your Child Expect Each Year?
The below gives a guideline as to what your child can expect in each year group with Accies Youth Rugby. The focus is on fun throughout and you will see that live games/tournaments and tackling/contact are introduced in a controlled manner across years..
Year groups are led by voluntary parent coaches/managers but we draw on professional coaches to support, particularly in later years to ensure kids have the skills to play the game safely. Every child and year group can develop differently and we also appreciate that kids like to try sports at different ages, so tailor our approach to kids that begin their rugby journey later.
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P1 – There are no tournaments or tackling at this stage and sessions tend to bear only a loose resemblance to rugby. Kids will spend most of the time with their own ball, whilst developing physical literacy and spatial awareness through inclusive and fun games like tig and rob the nest.
P2 – Very similar to P1 and we aim to introduce core rugby skills like passing and teamwork through more small-sided fun games. Kids will still spend a lot of time with their own ball and the focus is still fun!
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P3 – We will start entering teams into festivals hosted by our neighbouring rugby clubs at this stage, though rules are simplified and there is no tackling. Each festival has set squad sizes which requires squad selection. There will still be regular training sessions which maintain the fun approach from P2 but an increasing focus on rugby skills to ensure players are developing the skills and confidence to play in the festivals and enjoy doing so!
P4 – P4 will look very similar to P3 but festivals now include tackling, but no rucks or mauls. There is a greater focus on developing players to ensure they can tackle (and be tackled) safely and training sessions will start to include controlled contact. In tournaments, the tackle does not result in rucks or mauls at this level.
P5 – Tournament rules are the same in P5 as they were in P4 so it is more of the same at training too. Players will continue to develop their “run, catch, pass”, tackle skills and begin to work on team work skills such as moving the ball quickly and creating space to attack and score.
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P6 – By this stage, players have had a very good grounding in the main aspects of rugby so rucking and scrums are introduced to tournaments in a limited fashion - Rucks are limited to one player from each team contesting for the ball and scrums are limited to 3 players and are uncontested. Training sessions will include a greater focus on these areas to build confidence. Kicking from hand is also introduced in P6 but we prefer to encourage the players to develop their passing and running skills to create space and discourage kicking the ball away.
P7 – P7 builds on the new rules introduced in P6 and adds in controlled lineouts, still uncontested. Scrums are contested with 5 players each side but no active pushing. Rucks now allow 2 players to contest for the ball at the breakdown and teams are now 10-a-side.
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Midi rugby in general will start to look more like rugby with fixtures taking place on full pitches, including teams of 15 (S1 is 13-a-side). All aspects of the games will start to be played, albeit still introduced in a controlled manner i.e. conditioned scrums/lineout and tailored kicking rules.
It is still a friendly format for beginners and we tailor our coaching to ensure it is never too late to start or return to rugby!
KEY INFORMATION
Membership each year is very competitive and each player will be provided with the necessary playing strips or clothing for their age and stage as part of membership with additional items gifted subject to additional fundraising and sponsorship (go here to read more and join). We always welcome new players of all abilities and ages and are more than happy to offer a no obligation free trial period to come and give it a go!
Training varies per year group with the standard schedule as below:
P1-P2 - Sundays @ 9.30am
P3-P7 - Sundays @ 10.30am
U-13s & U-14s - Wednesdays @ 6pm and Sunday’s from 12.30pm (when no games)
U-15s & U-16s - Thursdays @ 5.15pm and Sunday’s from 12.30pm (when no games)
U-18s - Tuesday and Thursdays @ 6.30pm
The season starts in the middle of August and typically runs until the end of March with a breaks over holidays. Training takes place at Raeburn Place with indoor training over winter months for younger years - there are all weather facilities available for all year groups as required.
We use the Teamer app as our primary communications tool to plan training sessions, organise team selections and communicate with parents/guardians while using e-mail to notify parents/guardians of any important news or action required via e-mail.
We are based out of The Place which is our clubhouse. All income at The Place ultimately goes to supporting Accies so we would encourage parents/guardians to use The Place, bring friends and family and generally add to the friendly and welcoming environment we maintain at the club - you can also secure a 10% discount on food, drink and event at The Place by taking one of our adult Accies memberships. Starting from £100 per annum but there are some great value Family options too - read more and join here.
Touring is encouraged and in recent years Accies Youth teams have visited other parts of Scotland, Ireland, England, Italy and France.
We would also recommend a quick look through Scottish Rugby support for parents here.