Who are we Dealing With?

BOYS, BOYS AND MORE BOYS!

As parents, educators and coaches I’m sure we’ve all heard the following sweeping statements before:

“Teenagers are ruder and wilder and more irresponsible than ever before.”

“Teenagers want things now, they have no patience, and they need instant gratification.”

“Teenagers are lazy, they do nothing – they sit around all day playing on their modern toys!”

In working out who we are dealing with, it is important to understand the research was based around the premise of asking the teens what they think. The following chapters are what the teens said and thought – so now’s the time to forget your preconceptions!

According to the research findings, our subjects spend most of their time socialising with their friends, playing sport, surfing the net, listening to music and watching TV.

If you have ever watched teenage boys sitting on the couch you would have noticed they tend to do all these things at once. It is not uncommon to see a teenager with the TV on watching sport, on their phones Snapchatting, surfing the net on their laptops, with their headphones on listening to music!

When we adults say teens “sit on the couch all day and don’t do anything” and “it’s not like in my day because we didn’t have TV or video games” – we get one part of this right. Yes, it isn’t like it was in our day, but according to teens they are busy, have a lot on and do a variety of things.

Our rapidly changing world will continue to cause misunderstandings between generations. But just consider the sheer volume of gadgets and technologies that have been introduced and made available to teens over the past 20 years.

To what extent these technologies influence participation in sport is an argument we won’t have here, but I’m sure you get the point.

Surprisingly, very few teens say they spend a lot of time playing video games, watching other sports or doing homework. Go figure! Only a few think they spend a lot of time working which was also surprising, because a common belief is teenagers are too busy with jobs to attend sports training.

The research provided an intriguing snapshot of who plays rugby in their teen years here in New Zealand.

The ‘boys’ playing the game are 52% European, 27% Maori and 21% Pacifica. Of course, demographics between city and country are very different in New Zealand, but when dealing with issues at a national level certain trends stand out and quash some previously held beliefs.

For example: assuming rugby is dominated by a large number of Polynesians is simply not true. Perhaps you only need to look at the 2015 Rugby World Cup All Black squad to confirm this (51% European, 20% Maori and 29% Pacifica).

As for their size, most teens are under 80 kilograms (64%) and only 15% are over 90kg. Most are between 5ft 9” and 6ft (36%). Certainly, bigger than days gone by, but not overly frightening or concerning.

They tend to play other sports, with touch rugby being the most popular and a third going to the gym. The next most popular pass time is art. I’m not sure if doodling counts but we must presume they are not all sculpture’s and painters.

It wasn’t surprising to find their idols are rugby players, but it was pleasing to see their role models are their parents. Idols and role models often get roped together, which can become confusing. Too often we crown our sportsmen and sportswomen as role models, condemning them for slipping up and asking, “what sort of role model are they?” As it turns out our teens have it right – they want their parents to be role models. That’s who they look to for guidance, assurance, support and direction – not the players. Parents please take note!

While young children might idolise cartoon characters and dolls, teenagers look up to real people. They revere sports stars! This can be capitalised on, as almost every young rugby player in their teens will try to emulate their heroes, with little clones of Beauden Barrett, Sonny Bill Williams, Richie McCaw and Dan Coles found throughout our teenage ranks.

When out and about teens preferred to dress casually in shorts and t-shirts. I guess this is a Kiwi thing and I’m sure if we asked, the jandal would have been a popular choice of footwear. I mention this statistic because I have a feeling the Kiwi male is evolving from the rugged, rural strong, silent type to a more worldly and urbane individual (something I will talk about later in the book).

A whopping 97% of rugby-playing teenagers love rugby, a statistic NZ Rugby must consider when looking at future initiatives. Changing the game or the environment in which they play could affect those that play and love it so much.

Teenagers who play rugby are also more likely to play other sports, watch sport and have a tradition of rugby in the family, compared with someone who has left the game or has never played at all.

Nothing mind-blowing about that, but the comparison with those who had never played rugby was striking - something the marketing team would be interested in, I’m sure.

One aspect of these findings that may require a little crystal ball gazing is what our traditional rugby family will look like in 20 years.

What does the modern traditional rugby family mean? It would be interesting to compare the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s and now. Is there a difference? Had this question been asked, the answers would have delivered some fascinating insights into our national identity.