Recruiting: A new year, now what?

I can't tell you what a relief it was for last year's season to be over. Don't get me wrong some of the players I will miss tremendously, and will have a very difficult time replacing. Many have gone on missions, or off to school. And will be a benefit to the world around them.

Being as it was our first year we struggled a bit to get and keep enough players to field a team. Some got intimidated by the game, others parents forbade them to play. There were a few who did not pay the price to be on the team. They would not show up to practice, and then when they did it wasn't to practice. Come game day they expected to start, and have plenty of playing time, just as long as they felt like it though. We as coaches walked a tight rope not knowing if we would have enough players for each game or the caliber of players we needed to play. So to some extent I had to coddle these "players" and they knew it. I will not face that problem again, it is not fair to those who really pay the price. I expect it to be a bit easier this year hopefully word of mouth will help our cause. How do I go about finding the kind of players I need for this up coming season. There is no telling where they are. I had a kid last year he was so incredibly talented yet before rugby he had not played an organized sport. I had a tennis player that was so powerful, and lethal on on the field you would never know he had not played a contact sport before. The list could go on and on. I need to get finding kids now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-Jeremy