 |
The sure-fire recipe for rugby success on a CD! |
|
DISCOUNT POLICY We will always maintain a liberal discount policy with regard to GRASSROOTS RUGBY. We do this because we believe that it's important to help rugby clubs with their fund-raising efforts. And particularly so in these days of spiraling costs.
|
|
FUNDRAISING Use GRASSROOTS RUGBY as a fund-raiser for your club. You'll find potential buyers in your own club, of course, but also in other rugby clubs nearby as well as sports associations, universities, schools, education authorities, fitness centres and leisure centres. Your referee's society may also be a possible source of sales and don't forget interested parents and spectators. The CD also makes a teriffic present for sport-minded young people or door or raffle prizes. Here are some general fund-raising tips that may also help. Set a financial objective. There's no point in travelling without knowing where you're trying to get to and, anyway, without an objective how would you know if you'd arrived? At the same time make the objective practical - a new set of jersies or pads or a tour. "Our team is raising money in order to finance our trip to the play-offs," has a nice ring to it. Work out a deadline for your campaign. Plan to celebrate your achievement with an awards night - most money raised, least money raised etc. rewarded with a few joke presents. People need to know when it's over and how they've done. Commit your fundraisers. There's little point in trying to coerce your players if they won't or can't sell but most of your players will volunteer to sell (or raise) a set amount. Get their commitment before you start. Don't forget the conventional sources of funds. Many companies have fund matching schemes. Find out which of your players may be eligible and make sure they (and the club) take full advantage. Help your fund-raisers. Don't just send them out but give them some specific target areas, schools etc. so they're not tripping over each other. Here again you'll find that players will often volunteer and then you can fill in the gaps with the rest. A sales "cheat-sheet" is also a good idea - 10 things they can say about GRASSROOTS RUGBY that will help them sell. It's amazing how useful this sort of help can be to people who don't have the "gift o' the gab." Make sure that you target your beginning players' families. A serious word from the captain that GRASSROOTS RUGBY will help teach their precious offspring to practice safe rugby - which it will! - should be good for a few sales. Likewise, any spectator (or journalist) who wants the set pieces explained is fair game! Remind your fund-raisers to get the money! It's amazing how trusting some people are so help them not to get stiffed. While we don't really recommend that you sell GRASSROOTS RUGBY for more than it's normal retail price if you have an open-handed and well-heeled benefactor don't be embarrassed about taking more! |
EXCERPTS
From: SCRUM PART 2 Timing Rugby forwards ain't got rhythm. Sad but true. Take your average novice pack, line them up and ask them to jump when you call and the result is that some will anticipate the call, some will get it more or less right, some will be late and some, of course, will look at you as if you'd lost your mind and won't jump at all. Exactly the same thing can happen in the inexperienced scrum. When the ref calls "Engage," some do and some don't. Instead of a 700-odd kg mass exploding forward you have 300 or 400 kg acting approximately together and the rest off the beat. Changing this state of affairs is what scrum practice on the scrum machine is almost completely about. The ideal is absolutely simultaneous movement in the hit, shunt and drive because it is the instantaneous force exerted that makes the difference not the sum of all the forces over time - i.e. what you want is a single sledge-hammer blow as opposed to a drum-roll of taps from eight tack hammers. Even small packs that co-ordinate in this fashion and hit 'on the beat' can control their scrums consistently. From: INTRODUCTION Gender Issues Rugby is played at every level by both men and women and this book is for both men and women. Sadly, there is no reasonable way to make it clear in the text that GRASSROOTS RUGBY is for both genders equally - except to say that it is so. Skullduggery I believe that it's important to make a distinction between out-and-out thuggery and other illegal acts on the rugby field. Thuggery is more than anything the product of frustration. Players who are neither fit enough nor skilful enough to play the game in its proper spirit and within the Laws resort to illegal shortcuts. This, by the way, is not meant to suggest that there are no players who indulge in illegal and/or dangerous play for other, darker reasons but in my experience these players are exceptionally few and far between. They are also always, in my experience, on their way out - teams may well express rueful appreciation the odd example of thuggery on their behalf but they will rarely tolerate this sort of play in the long run. Deliberate late tackles (and early tackles), surreptitious punches, kicks, gouges and twists can affect the outcome of a match but much more importantly can cause substantial injury. The so-called red mist events can have equally serious consequences. Neither can be tolerated. To the victim of such assaults there is no difference in the outcome and while momentary loss of temper in the face of great provocation may seem to be excusable or at least more excusable the authorities must treat each equally harshly. It goes without saying that illegal or dangerous play must be dealt with promptly and with the full force of the remedies provided by the Laws and the Regulations. Clubs, too, have a responsibility to sanction persistent offenders. Strangely enough, however, my attitude toward another class of illegal acts on the field is quite different. These are what I would class as the unfair advantage crimes (for I have no doubt that they are crimes) such as 'boring in' in the scrum, obstruction and 'over-binding' in the lineout and the panoply of obstruction and interference tactics in open play. Yes, of course, these illegal acts deserve to be penalised if they are spotted but we must accept that most of them are simply not going to be spotted and prepare to act accordingly. Rugby is an aggressive, confidence game. Many 'unfair advantage' actions are, initially at least, attempts to discover the extent to which the opposition will allow itself to be taken advantage of. Later, of course, they may seek to reap the benefits of the unfair advantage but it would be hard for me to argue that a team being taken advantage of doesn't deserve at least some of what it gets. "Not letting them get away with it" in these circumstances is absolutely part of the game. Note that I'm not for a second recommending illegal retaliation but I am certainly suggesting that, for example, front-row technique is as much about not allowing your opponent to bore in as it is about protecting your hooker. A few of the more common unfair advantage crimes and ways to combat them are discussed in appropriate chapters. From: LINEOUT PART 2
Lineout drills 'Lineout Tennis' is a useful exercise for building and sharpening supporting and jumping skills by requiring repeated lifts and rewarding balance and stability. The idea is that several pods aim to keep the ball in the air by passing from jumper to jumper as high as possible over the cross-bar. Count successful passes and strive to continually improve the standard. Three pods work well but depending on your numbers you can use up to five passing from pod to pod in a set order, two on one side of the bar and three on the other. All the participants are forced to stay aware so that they can be in position in time. If they are too early or out of balance the supporters are placed under strain and too late the ball will go down. The exercise can be pressurised further by changing pod personnel or position for each lift. For example, supporters switch position within the pod or jumpers shift from pod to pod. Lineout Tennis gives the coach an excellent opportunity to study the supporters' lifting actions especially as fatigue begins to set in. It also gives the jumpers practice in delivering the ball sympathetically. The break between rallies is a good time to demonstrate and constructively criticise skills . A logical progression from Lineout Tennis is an exercise using a single pod and your thrower as the offensive lineout and two pods as the defensive lineout. The offensive pod pre-arranges a sequence of calls with the thrower and moves back and forward taking throws anywhere between the 5m and 15m lines. To score a point the defensive lineout must get one of its jumpers up in front of the offensive jumper to compete for the ball. Rotate the offensive pod after every five points. You can use two throwers to keep things moving. An interesting variation of this drill is to use a five-man lineout as the defence. To put an appropriate defence jumper up at all in this configuration never mind put him in front of the attacking jumper requires very good communication, quick thinking and action. The point of these exercises is not only that they provide plenty of throwing, supporting and jumping practice but also that they force the defensive lineout to watch the potential offensive jumpers and not the thrower. Obviously the defensive lineout pods must also communicate, organise and move so that a jumper can be put up in place. In addition, the offensive pod will soon learn to call for throws to P4, i.e. where there is no defence jumper unless both defensive pods move. The exercise also provides insight into how to misdirect the opposition in offence. | |||
|
ANIMATIONS Many of the coaching points in the GRASSROOTS RUGBY CD are illustrated by Macromedia Flash animations. These require a Macromedia Flash Player which is usually already installed as a plug-in in your browser software. If you can't access the animation below you can follow the Macromedia link to download the latest (free) edition of the Player plug-in. A link is also provided on the CD. 
These animations are also available in the GRASSROOTS RUGBY ANIMATIONS CD which contains all .fla, .swf and .html files on the GRASSROOTS RUGBY CD as well as useful animation templates and images. These files offer a valuable short-cut to players and coaches interested in developing their own Flash rugby animations. |
