A "kit" is a uniform. The team I watched had four sponsors, which I thought was great for such a young age. They approach their games much different than we do in the states. Everyone was an hour early for the game, first they practise as separate teams. Then they get in their kits.
I heard words like fire, focus, rucking, scrum, hoop, mate, chap, pitch and brilliant. I think I know what they all mean, except for maybe rucking, I might have to look that up.
As the game started, several things struck me. They never stop. It's like soccer in that there are zero play stoppages, no water break, no separate offense and defense, it's just non stop action.
At one point a boy got hit pretty hard. He layed somewhat motionless for a few seconds so of course that caused an injury stoppage. I was thoroughly impressed by how it was handled. The players all backed away, formed huddles, without coaching. Several adults lined up closeby not to watch, but to create shade from the hot sun for the boy. One adult went straight to the boys head and neck to stabilise it. As he did, the ref yelled "are you qualified to do this", the adult responded yes and handled the situation absolutely brilliantly, like a real pro. It was fairly clear it was not a neck or back injury, thanks to the questions he was asking. He even announced his progress to the nearby parents as he worked, "thinking out loud", if you will. Took about 5, maybe 10 minutes, they got the boy sitting up, into a chair in the shade. At that point he was more embarrassed than hurt, which of course is sad but good news.
It was a very close game, one team led at the half and the other team won in the second half. I learned after the game that a score is 5 points and a "try" (kick) is 2 points. Pretty close to football.
After the game, both teams went into huddles and I could hear immediate feedback, not only from the coaches but also from the players. Beautiful.
They gave a trophy to the MVP. Not to everyone, but to one great player of the day.
Then it gets really interesting.
I didn't notice this when I parked, but right by the main entrance is a pub. Right on the field (ahem, the pitch). After the game, everyone, and I mean everyone goes to the pub- moms dads kids dogs friends, everyone.
The kids eat free and the parents talk. All together, all teams. Are you kidding me, how great is that? In the states we'd typically arrive 15, maybe 30, mins before the game to stretch, not practise, then we'd play, then we'd get a drink from the rotating parent, then we'd all run home. For today's game, (I did verify that "game" and "match" are both proper terminology), I arrived at 10 and left by 1, with all of the practise, playing and socialising.
Sure, some might say the alcohol is controversial, but no one can argue that there's anything better than good conversation - and teaching kids to sit down, relax, and talk to people. The whole European culture all of a sudden made more sense to me, they start young!
I learned that they do wear pads in rugby, they're basically just .5 inches of pads attached underneath their shirts. They talked about putting on a "smart kit" (ie nice clothes) for the food, but this time they stayed in uniform.
The knowledge management tie is simple, it's about teamwork, knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses. Helping each other out in the moment, as well as reflecting afterward so that you're better next time. I was heavily reminded how important sports are today. Those kids learned that they can't do it alone, it takes a team to do anything worth doing. And it's downright fun when you do it well.
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