How to Know When Your Kid’s Ready to Play Rugby
And how to know when YOU’RE ready for your kid to play rugby
The player about to hit the ground hard? My son.
Rugby is not for the faint of heart. It’s for the fast, strong, tough types who enjoy tackling and being tackled – in nothing more than a tee-shirt and shorts.
You may have one of these types in your house.
A rough and tumble son or daughter who has no fear of physical contact, who seeks it out.
Should you possess such an individual, they may already be begging you to let them play the game. But how to know if they’re ready?
And equally as important, how to tell if you are?
Here are a few tips that will help.
If you’re proficient at making Bloody Mary’s in the back of your car, sharing them with other parents desperate to take the pain out of watching the match, and drinking them surreptitiously on the sidelines –
you’re ready for rugby.
If your kid has turned your annual Thanksgiving Day family touch football game into such a battle the nurses at your local ER know you by name –
your kid’s ready for rugby.
If you can watch your kid break his or her nose on the pitch, race to the sideline with blood cascading from their poor, sweet proboscis, be greeted by the coach with, “Stand still,” and who then pops the offended appendage back into place and completes the transaction with, “Now go get ‘em!” and your kid races back into the game –
you’re really ready for rugby.
If your kid enjoys being outdoors in nothing more than shorts, a tee-shirt, pair of socks, and cleats in rain, snow, sleet, hail, the occasional blizzard –
your kid’s ready for rugby.
If you have a Sabrett-stand size umbrella under which you will huddle with other parents as you try to watch a match being played in the rain, snow, sleet, hail, or occasional blizzard, and accept that no umbrella, no matter how large, will do anything to protect you from freezing your ass off and wishing you’d never agreed to any of this shit –
you’re ready for rugby.
If your kid can maintain the speed of a racehorse and the stamina of an Alaskan Huskie on a sunny, I’m talking not-a-cloud-in-the-sky, blistering 110-degree day –
your kid’s ready for rugby.
And if you can stand on the sidelines battling frostbite or heatstroke, patiently waiting for the moment your kid makes the most incredible play, looks over to you and knows YOU SAW IT –
you and your kid are so ready for rugby.
Now go, and enjoy!