Welcome to Junior Rugby at East Coast Bays
East Coast Bays Rugby is proud to provide a welcoming, inclusive and community-focused home for junior rugby on Auckland’s North Shore.
Based at Windsor Park in Mairangi Bay, East Coast Bays Rugby has a strong and thriving junior section, with players joining us from across the East Coast Bays and wider North Shore community.
Our junior rugby programme is built around a simple principle: junior rugby is about creating great experiences for kids.
We want every child who plays for Bays to feel welcome, supported and part of the Club, regardless of their experience, ability or aspirations. Our focus is on providing a safe, fun, inclusive and development-focused environment where players can learn the game, build confidence, make friends and develop a lifelong connection with rugby.
Our Approach to Junior Rugby
Bays Junior Rugby is guided by the values and strategic direction of East Coast Bays Rugby and by the junior rugby frameworks established by North Harbour Rugby and New Zealand Rugby.
Our approach prioritises:
- Enjoyment – creating an environment where children enjoy coming to rugby and want to return each season.
- Participation – providing meaningful opportunities for every player to be involved.
- Player Development – allowing children to learn, develop and challenge themselves at an appropriate pace.
- Inclusion – welcoming players of different abilities, backgrounds and levels of rugby experience.
- Fair Play – promoting respect, sportsmanship and positive behaviour on and off the field.
- Player Welfare – ensuring the wellbeing and safety of our junior players remains at the centre of decision-making.
- Community – building strong connections between players, whānau, coaches, managers, volunteers and the wider Club.
- One Club – ensuring our junior players and families see themselves as part of East Coast Bays Rugby, not simply an individual team or grade.
Rugby for Every Player
Bays provides a range of junior rugby opportunities appropriate to the age and stage of our players, including non-contact and tackle rugby and dedicated opportunities for girls and boys to participate in the game.
Our youngest players are introduced to rugby through age-appropriate formats that emphasise movement, basic skills, teamwork and fun. As players progress through the junior grades, the game develops with them, introducing additional skills, rules and challenges in a safe and progressive way.
We recognise that children develop at different rates and participate in rugby for different reasons. Some will aspire to representative and performance pathways, while others simply want to play alongside their friends each weekend.
Both are equally valued at Bays.
Our role in junior rugby is not to identify the best players as early as possible. It is to create an environment in which every player has the opportunity to become the best player they want to be.
More Than Rugby
For many families, junior rugby is their first introduction to East Coast Bays Rugby.
We want that introduction to be a positive one.
The friendships, confidence, resilience, teamwork and sense of belonging developed through junior sport are every bit as important as the rugby skills learned on the field.
Many players who begin their rugby journey with Bays continue through the junior grades, into youth and senior rugby, while others remain connected to the Club as coaches, referees, volunteers, supporters and members of our wider community.
That lifelong connection is an important measure of our success.
Great rugby. Great experiences. One Club.
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