The objective of this site is to put down the things that I believe are important in coaching and playing rugby. Let me stress that these are personal views not only about how the game is played but also about the coaching process and the responsibilities of the coach and subject to change. I certainly don't expect that anyone reading this will agree with everything I have to say but maybe in disagreeing you will have the opportunity to think about your own view of the game.
As a starting ppoint, it seems to me that
the first responsibility of a coach is actually to coach -- to actively help the players to improve their play. Willing them to play better is not enough! Exhorting them to play better is not enough, either! And much worse, constantly complaining that they don't play up to their potential is, I think, clear evidence that the coaching process isn't working.
Perhaps there was a time when a coach's job was simply to blow the whistle at practice and pat shoulders in the changing room but those days have gone. If rugby is to survive as a worthwhile sport we must try to bring out the best in the players and in the team because that is what sport is about.
Rugby clubs, and indeed other sports other clubs, exist to provide opportunities so that their members can achieve and gain the fulfillment that achievement brings. Achievement can be measured by the silverware so proudly displayed behind the bar but it is also measured by the sense of fellowship it creates in every individual member of the club. Professionalism has brought about an attitude on the part of many club members that the silverware is crucial. It is not. What is crucial is that every member whether he or she be a player, alicadoo or supporter gains something from belonging.
For players this gain has two forms. The first of these is the confirmation of his or her self-worth brought about by physical effort in a team game and by the certainty of personal improvement. The second is the life-enhancing benefit of shared aspiration and achievement.
As coaches our task is to help to bring these about -- and the comments that follow are dedicated to this objective.
The Philosophy of Coaching
Your level of agreement with the following propositions (these are my guidelines
and not necessarily in order of importance) will help to define your coaching
philosophy:
Top of Page
The Philosophy of Coaching
Winning isn't everything -- helping your players to achieve their best
is.
The capability for improvement resides inside every player (and coach!).
Improvement is NEVER spontaneous. Improvement requires example, encouragement and practice.
Every player deserves to play at the highest level to which he or she is
capable.
The team is more important than any individual; however, each player on
the squad deserves to be treated fairly and according to his or her coaching
needs.
Any team can beat any other team on the day.
It might even be worth making a note of your level of agreement with each of these points in your coaching diary for reference as the season goes on. Will your opinions change?
... and having defined your Coaching Philosophy it's time to give some thought to precisely WHAT you are going to coach.
The Coaching Journey
To my mind the coaching experience is a journey both for the players and the coach. Unfortunately, describing parts of this journey requires the use of words which are not commonly spoken by either players or coaches. I would apologise for this if I could figure out a way not to do it but until I do joy, self-expression, satisfaction and so on will just have to be used.
Top of Page
The Player's Journey
For players the journey begins on the day when somebody first throws them a rugby ball and they discover the sheer joy of running with it and we must never forget that the day when they stop feeling this joy will be the day their rugby journey comes to an end. Their progress along the journey is helped by the things they learn on the way. At first it's the fundamentals of the game, then the tactics and finally the strategy but far from this learning experience being a simple progression it is a complex process in which all these threads are entwined.
I've chosen to illustrate the rugby journey with a spiral path beginning outside the boundaries of the game and apparently ending at some sort of nirvana-like navel where it might be gathered that all the mysteries of the game are finally revealed. This isn't really what I mean. As in life the trick to rugby is not so much to arrive as to travel joyfully. What is important to remember is that each and all of the components of the rugby experience has a contribution to make every step of the way.
Top of Page
The Joy of the Game
This is the part of the game where all the pleasures and most of the physical pains of the game are experienced: the joy of winning and the pain of losing, the sheer physical pleasure of running, jumping, pushing and shoving, the shock of the tackle, the individual pleasure of being the centre of attention and the collective pleasure of performance as part of a successful unit, the pleasure of learning and finally understanding the Laws and the traditions of rugby,the pleasure of discovering that all the skills that have been learned actually work - in other words the pure joyous self-expression of playing rugby.
The Fundamentals
This is where we learn the physical mechanics of the game: how to move the ball, contribute to the set pieces, attack and defend individually and as part of a unit
in the most efficient way. The crucial thing about the Fundamentals is that
they should never be taught or learned either partially or poorly! Good fundamentals are just as important in the Under 14 Bs as in the national team. This means that while beginning and junior players may be taught simple skills and more advanced players more advanced skills even the simple skills must be taught thoroughly. This is apparently difficult for many coaches to appreciate. It may be that they are afraid of somehow destroying the enthusiasm of their players by insisting on rigorous practice of such apparently obvious skills as passing and receiving and good body position but all too often players do not fully learn these skills at the level they are taught and as they progress have no opportunity for remedial coaching. It is sad but true that players who don't learn the fundamentals properly early on will probably never learn them!
I would note that my coaching CD
"GRASSROOTS RUGBY - Playing and Coaching Rugby Union in the Minor Leagues" is all about these Fundamentals. It is available at www.eurekastreet.com/grassroots .
Thus, to my mind,
it is an important measure of a coach that he or she can teach the Fundamentals both properly and thoroughly and still turn out players who's enthusiasm for the game is increased.
Top of Page
Tactics
Tactics coaching consists of teaching players how to achieve interim objectives in attack and defence by using the Fundamentals efficiently. Thus they learn how to create situations on the pitch that have a high probability of triggering success. Fast, clean ball from the scrum is only valuable if it is used to spark a back move or set-up a drop-goal attempt, for example. A good tackle is always valuable but if it is carried out in a position and manner likely to cause a turnover it is doubly so.
Strategy
Coaching strategy may be thought of as bringing it all together. This is where players are taught to assess the situation and and use the Fundamentals to launch the tactic that will turn the match. This is where "more aware," "smarter," "harder," "faster," "more powerful" and "more efficient" all come together.
For Coaches the journey is somewhat different since it occurs in segments, each provided by a different team.
Beginning to coach a new team is a time for decisions. How should a coach select from the components of the game - the Joy of the Game, the Fundamentals, Tactics and Strategy - to design a coaching program that is both appropriate to the current abilities of the team and will help them to develop further?
What MUST be coached, what SHOULD be coached and what, given time and opportunity, MIGHT be coached?
Thus, while it is obviously important to remedy a playing weakness that came to light in last Saturday's match it is also important to ensure that skills are kept sharp (or even to provide remedial skills coaching)
and to challenge the players to move on to a higher level by introducing new tactics. This is the basis for designing a coaching plan.
It is obvious that the level at which the team is playing will have a major influence on the mix. National and Representative teams probably have good Fundamentals and if they don't there probably isn't time to remedy the lack. Senior club teams may well need more work on the details of their tactics than on their strategy.
The important thing is to use coaching time efficiently. Keeping an eye on the bottom line is the business term. "What should we be doing at practice that will directly improve our results?" should be the coach's equivalent.
What must be avoided at all costs is the arbitary, even aimless, coaching plan based on: "But we always do this at training!" or even worse, "The lads enjoy this!" Most coaches have lives outside rugby - hard to believe, I know - but even a few minutes on the way to practice spent
facing the facts about what needs to be done is worth gold.
Not sure about which components will make the most difference? My advice is to start at the "bottom." If the team isn't enjoying it's rugby it isn't going to improve, that's a given. (By "enjoy" I don't mean that they should be lollygaging about on the pitch but that they should be getting satisfaction from playing
and training.) Next look to the Fundamentals. Set pieces and defence are probably the places to start followed by support and continuity. Then tactics with specific objectives and then the biggie - decision making.
Top of Page
Your coaching "contract"
Ignore this crucial first step at your peril!
It's not enough just to have agreed to coach the team, the players must
also agree to be coached by you - that's the contract! You must have their active agreement before
you can achieve anything -- and if you don't get it you will waste a lot
of time and effort. Ask for their agreement at your first meeting. They
will have questions about your experience and coaching plan so have your
answers ready.
It does no harm to also be sure that the club officials accept you and
your plan at the same time. If you are to be an assistant coach you'll
also need to get a clear indication of your duties from the Head Coach.
Top of Page
Begin as you mean to go
on
This actually means that you shouldn't begin to coach in earnest until you've done some basic preparation and have a good picture of the coaching objectives you want to achieve during the season. It's going to take a while to get a feel for the squad but there's usually no need to rush. You can, e.g. call the first few training sessions fitness tests or suchlike with formal team training to begin only when the time is right. Being at least partially prepared will ensure that you are not chopping and changing your approach over the first couple of months - perhaps the most important part! - of your tenure.
You will want to make your coaching rules early, probably at your first formal training session but remember, rules can be modified as the season goes on but introducing new rules half-way through the season doesn't work.
Determine your objectives
This isn't easy. Once you have some idea of your personal coaching objectives you must develop the objectives for the team. The aspirations of the squad come first obviously but remember that these objectives will almost certainly be different (and lower, in my experience,) than the Club's stated objectives for them (which are usually far too high). Age, fitness, skill levels, club support, training availability and facilities should all be taken into account.
Note: Players will attend pre- or early-season meetings that can be
used to achieve this goal and also provide an opportunity to begin to propound
the methods you want to use to achieve the objectives. The rules and objectives
you finally determine must be "sold" to the players at every training and
every match so they'd better be right! Players sense immediately if you're
bluffing.
Commit your squad
Once the squad objectives are determined you must make a real effort to get your players to "commit to" or "buy into" the coaching program and schedule you are about to introduce to achieve them. You may have to hold them to this deal in difficult circumstances later.
Top of Page
Identify disruptive personalities
early and deal with them early.
Losing a skilled but disruptive player early in the season is always
worth it for team ticker. He or she will be forgotten after the first game.
This was one of the very first Coaching Notes I ever wrote and it has been included unchanged ever since. However, I have recently had occasion to think about this situation again and have realised that it may seem to be more than somewhat glib and facile. How to deal with a fractious player, especially a skillful player, is often fraught with pitfalls and it is very, very easy to get sidetracked. What happens if the player threatens to take his or her mates with them? What if other members of the squad speak speak up for him or her?
Well, the more I thought about it the more I felt I was right the first time. The best method of proceeding is to keep your eye firmly on maintaining the team's TICKER. Not your own self-esteem, not the standard of play of the team but its TICKER. Get that right and the problem solves itself.This leads on to:
Establish the relationship
you want with the squad early
For example: You are not their father, mother, nursemaid or their best
friend. You are the coach who will do everything in your power to help
them achieve the things they want to achieve on the rugby field. But they
don't play for you and they need to know it! -- they play for themselves
and the team. Players must know early that you are e.g. specifically the
team's coach and not the "Club representative" or "Club disciplinarian".
You don't set the fixtures or pick the refs, and it's not your fault that
the field is muddy, either!
Top of Page
Do your paperwork
Get to know the players as soon as you can.
Determine, if you can, what it is that they NEED from you, from their
mates, from the club, from the game.
Make a player profile for each squad member. This need not be a rigid
form and it should allow notes and comments to be added and changed as
the season goes on. You are not going to get it right first time, anyway.
Profiles made by the players themselves are not always very useful in
this but they're a start and can be up-dated. They also provide talking
points for your first individual meeting.
Get an early fitness benchmark for each player. e.g. Beep test score,
3k run time. Repeat the test at least twice during the season making sure
that changes are reported to individual players.
When making player assessments don't forget that practice and games
are two completely different things. I, and I suspect all coaches, can
point to players who seem diffident at practice but turn into tigers on
the field, and sadly vice versa.
Players -- from
the coach's viewpoint
- Players usually have only a very general idea of where and how they
should play. In particular, you should look very carefully at junior players
who represent themselves as only playing in the "glamour" positions.
- Strangely enough, however, players usually have an honest picture of
their weaknesses.
- Players' ability to characterize their fitness is generally suspect.
- Don't ever assume that your players know what's going on.
Top of Page
