Eighteen national rugby camps have graced the sporting fields at the University of New England and the annual four day-event is showing no signs of slowing down with hundreds turning out from across the country to join in.
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Around 270 young athletes made their way to town to learn from some of NSW Rugby’s best coaches.
Wallaby and Waratah Jack Dempsey came along for two days to watch the activities and offer advice to the players.
It is the first time Dempsey had attended a camp in a regional area but said it was an eye-opener for him and highlighted the enthusiasm of the young players from the country.
“I do a lot of camps in and around Sydney, this is probably my first one out in the country but I love doing it,” he said.
“I have been coaching kids since I was about 16 or 17 - I used to go down to my local junior club - and just the enthusiasm these kids in the country have has caught me off guard. They live and breathe rugby at a young age. As a professional player that gives you so much enjoyment when you see that in kids' eyes and the way they play and train and ask you questions.”
Dempsey left the coaching to the NSW Rugby Development Officers but for the final day of camp – game day – did his best to lift the players heading out on to the field.
“I spoke to these guys before they ran out, gave them a few tips [and] gave them my best Michael Cheika impersonation of a pre-game speech to fire them up,” he said.
“I remember when I was their age, they are miles ahead of what I was so it just shows that the country coaches, as well as the coaches from the Tahs, are just passing on the skill sets to the kids.”
Organiser Paul Schmude said the reputation of the camp for fine-tuning rugby skills had reached international waters with one participant flying from Papua New Guinea.
“We have four kids from Tassie, Bourke, mostly southern NSW and Queensland but we go all the way up to Rocky this year and they we have got 10 kids from the Southport school area,” he said.
“In the girls' program we had a girl fly from Papua New Guinea, she flew into Australia on Sunday and then did the camp on Monday and Tuesday and then flew out on Tuesday night.”
Schmude said the campers spend time learning about all the on-field and off-field elements in the sport over the four days.
“They enjoy everything to do with the skill base, meeting new mates is one of the big ones, there's key stuff we talk about like respect and that side of things,” he said.
“These guys are keen as to play footy and that's what they have been doing. They do everything from starting with skill based stuff on Sunday and we gauge what the kids are like and then they started getting into a little bit of contact on Monday.
“By Monday afternoon they are into the real contact, same with Tuesday and [Wednesday] being game day hopefully everything they have learned comes to fruition and they play well.”