Age Grade System Proposal

Nalondo Community Rugby Club 

It would be a dream come true for many rugby players to take part in a Rugby World Cup. 

In Kenya, we continue to chase this dream,  time and time again falling short. We have put in time and resources towards this endeavour but are yet to see the desired results. 

To make it to a Rugby World Cup, we need to put in place a working system that will give us the desired quality that will see us through to our first rugby world cup.

This is my suggestion, We adopt an Age Grade system merged with a professional system that has been seen to yield good results and then merge it with our kenyan rugby. 

This is how we go about it. We have the new education system, Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) already rolled out by the government. This forms the backbone of our Age Grade system.  The Primary grades form the base and introductory point of rugby to the nation's children, and with regular World Rugby coaching trainings organised by the KRU, we will have enough coaches available to majority of the Primary Schools around the country. Our base will form the Under 12s and have matches against each other to test skills and selection into the National U12 Team.

The Junior HighSchool category will comprise of children aged 13 to 15years and here we shall introduce in detail, skills training, as per World Rugby Children Coaching Specifications. This will have come from the base laid with the U12s and thus we will start seeing quality trickle in to this age grade. With annual National Games, we shall select the National U16s Team.

Senior HighSchool shall carry the backbone of the system as this shall be where positional specialisation will happen. Based on World Rugby Coaching Children Guidelines Coaches will be educated on how best to fill up certain positions based on positional requirements. In addition, the level of competition will be closely monitored by the union representatives at this level and selection will be for the U20s side that will take part in the Annual Barthes Cup, among other regional and international competitions for this age grade.

Post HighSchool Rugby will be coordinated and thus Varsity Rugby League will play a vital role in nurturing these young talent from High Schools. These sides will be allowed to scout for talent at the U20s and Senior HighSchool Games and offer Learning opportunities in the form of Rugby Scholarships. This will enable our youth to not only depend on rugby but acquire knowledge and skills in other fields in order to establish their own practices post-rugby. University sides WILL NOT take part in Club competitions and this will allow for further development of this age grade of 21 to 24 years who will be selected to the National 'A' side. This will enable us have the guys within the same agegrade develop together and create cohesion so that as they progress we have an unending cycle of world class players graduating every year into our national teams and clubs.

The final level is the Clubs Category. This will be fully professional with clubs offering Varsity side graduates pro contracts thus continuing the development of these players. These players will have come through the systems and will be ready to take on international opposition with ease and without fear.

Western Bulls Rugby Club 

This, however, will not be wished into existence in one day, or one month, or even one year. This has to be a longterm project that will not only see Our Simbas and Lionesses qualify for Rugby World Cup's, but also be competitive in the said tournament. It will equally have trickle effects to our Shujaa side as talent will be in plenty. This will enable our union to export talent to other leagues, deepening our experience and offering our players a just reward for their commitment and hardwork.

Key to achieving this is Discipline and Patience. We need to trust each other to perform our roles in order for us to one day, play or witness our country take part in the Rugby World Cup. This is not to say that it will be cheap, financial investments must be made towards this project and involving corporate bodies will go a long way in bridging the financial gap.