- At-home drills
- Rugby
- 8 year olds
Rugby drills at home for 8 year olds
An 8 year old can practice catch & pass, evasion and kicking at home with 18 rugby drills picked for the age. Keep a session to about 25 minutes, up to 3 days a week, with rest days between. Why: Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week (NATA youth sport specialization recommendations).
A parent's page for an 8 year old: the drills that work at home, one session to follow, what changes this year and how much is healthy. Free, no account.
By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated November 5, 2026
A parent's page. Free to read; no card to start; running a team is always free.
At a glance
- At 8
- 18 rugby drills the app opens for an 8 year old work at home, across 6 skills.
- How long
- One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old.
- How often
- At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.
- What you need
- Most used: rugby ball (8 of the 18 drills), cones (7), agility ladder or chalk lines (1), mat (1), mat or grass (1), mat or soft ground (1), rugby ball or a pillow (1), tag belts (1). 1 drill needs nothing but space. 5 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.
- Safe at home
- One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.
18 at-home drills
Rugby drills for 8 year olds to do at home
Every drill below is one the app opens for an 8 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.
catch & pass
Catch & Pass
evasion
Evasion
kicking
Kicking
speed & agility
Speed & Agility
body control
Body control
A 23-minute session
A home rugby session for an 8 year old
A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 23 minutes in all. Do it up to 3 days a week, with rest days between.
- 1Rugby Warm-Up, Ages 7 to 10An 8-minute moving warm-up for rugby players aged 7 to 10: easy running, moving stretches, balance and soft landings, then rugby moves. Before practice, never still stretches first.8 min
- 2Tag Belt EscapeSmall steps, then go.10 min
- 3Rugby Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 7 to 10A 5-minute cool-down for rugby players aged 7 to 10 after training: an easy walk, then gentle stretches for the legs, hips and shoulders, each held for a slow count of 10.5 min
At 8
What changes in rugby training at 8
The app opens the same 18 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.
Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.
The week
Fitting rugby into a week at 8
At 8 the limit is 8 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 3 sessions of 25 minutes is 1.25 hours, which leaves 6.75 for team practice and games. Even 3 days at the app's longest, 30 minutes, is 1.5 hours.
The research behind it
Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.
Côté and Vierimaa 2014Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.
NATA youth sport specialization recommendations
Questions and answers
What rugby drills can an 8 year old do at home?
18 drills the app opens at 8 work at home. A few to start with: Family Passing Circle, Hands Up Target Catch and Walking Side Pass. One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.
How long should an 8 year old practice rugby at home?
One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old. At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.
What do you need to practice rugby at home at 8?
Most used: rugby ball (8 of the 18 drills), cones (7), agility ladder or chalk lines (1), mat (1), mat or grass (1), mat or soft ground (1), rugby ball or a pillow (1), tag belts (1). 1 drill needs nothing but space. 5 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.
What changes in rugby training at 8?
The app opens the same 18 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.