Locomotor movement skills

Locomotor movement skills are those in which the body is moved in one direction, or a combination of directions, from one point to another. Activities such as walking, jogging, moving forwards, backwards, side-shuffling, skipping, running, jumping, hopping and leaping are considered fundamental locomotion movements. Locomotor movement skills are probably the most basic and important category of fundamental movement skills that a child requires to play rugby. The player must be able to move around the pitch and they use a variety of the different locomotor movement patterns mentioned above to achieve this.

The videos below identify some simple activities that can be used to develop the common locomotor movement skills specific to rugby.

The square drill - the player accelerates forward, side-shuffles, back-pedals and side-shuffles again. This covers a lot of the locomotor skills of rugby in a simple drill.

Follow the leader – one player is the leader, one is the follower. The follower should mirror the actions of the leader as they jog, run, sidestep etc.