Brought a Drone to My 5-Year-Old’s Rugby Practice — Now It’s Expected

There are a few things you expect to see at kids’ rugby practice.

Cleats, water bottles, a bunch of kids half-listening while the coach is trying to get them organized.

What I didn’t expect the first time I brought the drone was a full-on pack of kids chasing it like it was the last ice cream truck on earth.

That part caught me off guard.

It started pretty simply. Blake brought the Neo 2 out and showed a couple of the kids how it works. Gesture controls, taking off from your hand, the basics.

That lasted maybe five minutes.

Then the coach’s kids got involved, then a couple more wandered over, then suddenly I’ve got a lineup of kids asking if they can try it, and I’m standing there thinking, “Alright… this escalated quickly.”

Now it’s just part of the routine.

We show up and I’ll get asked almost immediately:

“Did you bring the drone?”

And once it’s out, that’s it. Practice is still happening, technically, but there’s also a group of kids sprinting around trying to outrun it, wave at it, or convince it to follow them instead.

It turns into this weird mix of rugby practice and… I don’t even know… drone-based cardio.

The funny part is the drone is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do — tracking, following, keeping someone in frame — but I’m in the background messing with it on my phone.

Switching it from follow-behind to follow-in-front, changing the distance, adjusting the angle.

So from their perspective, it kind of looks like the drone has a mind of its own.

In reality, I’m just quietly stirring the pot.

Every kid wants to land it.

Every single one.

And honestly, that’s one of the best parts of the whole thing. Normally you’d be a bit hesitant handing a drone to a bunch of kids, but the Neo 2 is small, it’s got prop guards, and it can take a bump without turning into an expensive mistake.

So instead of constantly saying “don’t touch that,” it turns into “alright, let’s see what you’ve got.”

Some of those landings are… not textbook.

But they figure it out.

At one point I looked over at a couple of parents and said, “Is this a weird way to wear out my kid?”

Because I’ve got a couple spare batteries, and if I run through all of them, these kids will just keep going. Running, chasing, laughing the whole time.

And honestly, the best way I can describe it is this:

It’s basically the modern-day version of throwing a stick for a dog at the park.

Except instead of one dog, it’s a full pack of kids, all convinced the drone is following them specifically.

No one’s bored. No one’s asking for a screen. They’re just running around chasing a flying camera like it owes them money.

The reason it works is because there’s almost no friction to using it.

You don’t need to pull out a controller, wait for satellites, deal with menus, or kill the moment trying to get everything set up.

You pull it out, press a button, and it’s flying.

That’s the difference.

That’s why it actually gets used.

Now, it’s not perfect.

If there’s a bit of wind, you’ll see it working to compensate. And the collision avoidance is… let’s call it optimistic. You still need to pay attention.

This is not a “set it and forget it” situation.

It’s more like controlled chaos.

The unexpected bonus is the footage.

It’s not cinematic, it’s not perfect, but it’s real. Kids laughing, running, trying to outrun something that is very clearly faster than they are.

It’s the kind of stuff you actually want to keep.

At the end of the day, this thing has turned into something I didn’t plan on at all.

It’s part of rugby practice now. Kids are learning how it works, parents are asking questions, and everyone ends up a little more tired than they expected.

For something that costs what it does, and takes zero effort to get in the air, it’s kind of ridiculous how good it is at what it does.

There are better drones. Bigger drones. More capable drones.

But none of them come out this easily, get used this often, or turn into this much fun this quickly.

And none of them turn a rugby practice into a pack of kids chasing a flying camera across a field.

Related Reads

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Can the DJI Neo 2 Keep Up With a Four-Year-Old?
What happens when you let a kid set the pace — and whether the Neo 2 can actually keep up with the chaos.

Teaching Kids to Fly a Drone (Safe, Simple, and Actually Fun)
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