Generation why bother

A Wellington rugby report says pupils are passive, lack commitment and are no longer go- getters. Are those aged under 25, and dubbed Gen Y, actually Generation Why Bother?

Whaddarya?! Greg McGee's challenge from his landmark rugby play Foreskin's Lament is now being levelled at the nation's youth.

In particular, a Wellington Rugby Union report into secondary schools' participation says Generation Y are non-committers, don't seek to improve, give up easily if they aren't top of the class and are not go-getters.

But are any of those accusations likely to get teenagers shaking in their boots? Or are they more likely to raise a cynical eyebrow from the comfort of the couch and shrug off the complaint with an apathetic "Whatever", adding fuel to the adage that youth is wasted on the young?

Or is the charge, in fact, an undeserved slur against the motivations of pupils aged between 14 and 18?

The conclusions reached by the report, which was looking to stem a 10 per cent drop in the numbers playing Wellington college rugby, suggest otherwise.

If fewer are playing rugby, what are they doing?

It was Tana Umaga, frustrated with being pinged for a high tackle in the cauldron of a Super 12 match, who memorably told referee Peter Marshall: "We're not playing tiddlywinks here."

The report indicates many teenagers would rather they were. Too few were prepared to invest time at rugby practice, the Wellington Rugby Union-commissioned report said, with low expectations of their own performance but high expectations of product quality.

The oval ball was not necessarily that product either. The Google generation was just as inclined to twiddle its thumbs playing an Xbox rugby game as get stuck in boots and all on the paddock.

Or as the report put it: "For all that they grow up fast in technology terms, their emotional growth is much slower than for other generations."

Report chairman Peter Dale, of the New Zealand Community Trust, stressed he was referring only to those considering playing rugby, rather than to those already with potential or excelling at the sport. "The objective of the study was to look at what it takes to get people who might or might not play rugby."

According to the New Zealand Secondary School Sports Council, between 2005 and 2007 participation rates for rugby nationally fell from just over 31,000 to 29,845.

At the same time as this decline, the sleeping giant that is football started stirring, with secondary school playing numbers jumping from 20,667 to just over 22,000.

Figures from College Sport Wellington show an increase in secondary school rugby participation rates in 2006, though executive director John Hornal said the figure included four Horowhenua and Kapiti schools not in the Wellington Rugby Union catchment area. Its player numbers peaked at just over 3000 before falling away to around 2500.

So while 3360 (including girls) were registered to play rugby, football was already breathing down its neck, with 2766 registered players, up from 2481 the previous year – a figure which excluded those playing at multiple levels in club leagues.

"Soccer is going to boom in this city – particularly with the Phoenix," Mr Hornal said.

The emergence of Wellington's professional football team, championed by its feverish supporters, is waking up rival codes.

Former Silver Fern Bernice Mene said all sport was competing with other youth distractions. Since retiring from netball, Mene has been involved with drafting plans for the future of New Zealand secondary schools.

"They're not just going to school these days, in terms of education and learning. Many of them are working, being young entrepreneurs and setting up businesses in their teens.

"They do just have so many more options and choice all round, not just in sport, but the arts too."

What else needs to change?

Wellington Rugby Union chief executive Greg Peters conceded the union had a lot more ground to cover. "In particular how we appeal to the Generation Y and respond to their different requirements at rugby, but also at sport generally, probably at a level lower than the elite level . . . it's the next level down that is at risk of leaving the game because we're not necessarily offering them the right way to be part of it."

Double Olympic swimming gold medallist Danyon Loader did not doubt teenagers were still motivated, but that now manifested itself in different ways.

"Not only [are they] different from when I was growing up, or the generations before me were growing up, but [it is] also different for each person," he said. "In order to work with them, it is a matter of tapping into what will get them in the water and off the couch."

It was in response to such a challenge that Sparc established the Mission On programmes in which well-known New Zealanders such as Mene and Loader speak to school pupils about their experiences starting off in sport.

The programme explained the benefits of early starts, regular diet and training – and also the very real human responses to having to follow such a regime.

Mene said pupils also liked to hear about the tough times such as the injuries and non-selection.

Sparc Push Play manager Deb Hurdle said the Mission On programme, a joint initiative with the education and health ministries, addressed the aspirations of pupils perhaps not striving for the elite echelons of sport.

"[Our feeling was] it would be really good to take it wider and to kids who may not have necessarily reached that level and see if we can motivate the other kids to pass on the messages," she said.

"The thing with young people is you have to cover a spectrum of things. There are some people that want to lead and others that don't, so I think really what you've got to do is come up with a whole menu of things. It's too easy to say, 'Let's do something in a particular way' and force them to follow that path."

Mr Dale advocated more structured programmes because children were more used to structure today than 25 years ago.

"The changes in the generations are that, if it's a crap programme, they won't play rugby. If it's a good programme, they will."

Mr Peters said the report's findings suggested the code needed to respond to a changed environment.

Between the ages of 13 and 20, national rugby participation rates dropped by up to 50 per cent.

Coaches needed to be supported, youth needs responded to and more structured contact provided with school groups.

Even then, Mr Peters believed a delicate balance had to be weighed against programmes being too sportingly prescriptive.

"We need to offer the ability to play the game under different structures than we might have been used to in the past."

Other codes had less formal set- ups, allowing youths to participate in games without necessarily having to attend a training session earlier in the week.

Ms Hurdle said a Sparc survey of summer and winter sporting code participation, expected to be issued in September, would provide an updated evaluation of what the nation's youth were playing at.

One thing was certain, observed Mr Dale – the options were now wide open. "We actually have to understand these young people before we design programmes for them. If we think we're all going to have our children play sport like we used to, then we've got another think coming."

- © Fairfax NZ News