Non-tackling kids: fears and solutions

As soon as contact begins in the early age groups, some players relish tackling.

Others, though, don’t like it, no matter how much technical work is done. And once a match-related scenario is encountered, they just don’t tackle. Here is how to address the causes beyond the technical issues...

Fear of the unknown

Perhaps naturally, "it hurts" is often a reason given for not tackling.

Rarely in youngsters’ lives do they encounter situations where they should run into somebody else. On the few occasions they have run into somebody else, usually by accident, it’s an unpleasant experience.

In rugby, we actively encourage them to do so. We shouldn’t be surprised that youngsters find the idea of collision difficult.

Mental blocks

Closely aligned with fear is social conditioning.

Parental and school discipline have ingrained into them, for good reason, that it is wrong to hurt other people and naughty to bash into others. These messages can create a conflict for children to overcome when faced with the opposite requirement.

Speed

Another set of children may demonstrate tackling ability perfectly fine at a walk or jog in tackling practices, but do not translate that into a faster-paced game.

Poor tackling could simply be a symptom of that extra speed. All the factors involved are too great for them to process everything in time to make the tackle.

Dealing with the causes

The coaching challenge is to help the players overcome these issues. 

Emphasising good technique is crucial, but that alone won’t overcome fear, reticence and timing. 

Here are some training ideas:

• Use wrestling or grappling warm-ups and ball-wrestling contests to make physical contact natural
• Use wrestling, bumping and pushing activities to ease worry of pushing others
• Play small-sided games in reduced areas to keep speed down, giving players time to enact tackles, or play rugby at walking pace. 

In time, players will just forget their initial lack of involvement as physicality and automatic responses become ingrained.