Filed under: Rugby Coaching, Rugby Fitness, Rugby News, Rugby Refereeing, Rugby Skills, Rugby Team Management, Rugby Training, Toby Curthoys | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, Rugby, Rugby Information, Rugby Newsletter, Rugby Playing Styles, Rugby Skills, Rugby Talent Spotting, Rugby Training
Welcome Coach,
My name is Toby Curthoys. I’m going to be posting my thoughts and views on a wide range of rugby coaching topics in the months ahead. I’ll kick-off by telling you a bit about myself and why we have created this blog.
I am the publisher of Dan Cottrell’s Better Rugby Coaching publications and training aids. Whilst Dan makes sure the quality of everything we do is second to none, my job is to develop our range of products to reflect the needs of rugby coaches worldwide.
Unlike Dan who played to a very high standard, I have no talent for rugby. But I do have a huge passion for the game.
In my opinion there’s room for all styles of play across the vast “rugby spectrum”. I love to see fast open play, with nimble side steps by the hooker and delicate offloads by the fly half.
But I also appreciate the more gladiatorial elements of the game, like the front row combat. And if one team’s route to success is by hoofing the ball into the corners at every opportunity – then good luck to them!
In fact, I think it’s the range of playing styles, skills required and people involved that make rugby such a great game. That and the fact that anyone can play the sport and be challenged by it.
That’s why I am committed to not only helping rugby coaches, but also playing my part in expanding the sport worldwide.
This blog is for everyone involved in rugby coaching and all the issues you face have a place here. We’ll be contributing something new each week, and I’d like to extend an open invitation for you to join in with your comments.
Through this blog we can listen to what you have to say about your coaching issues and, with our many contributors, look at ways to help you.
Whether it’s individual or team skills, coach development, refereeing, player behaviour, discipline, the role of parents, team management and selection, talent spotting or fitness, Rugby Coaching Blog aims to cover it all.
Your feedback and contributions are important and valuable for coaches all over the world, as this blog allows knowledge to be shared among coaches in scores of countries.
Please get involved, comment on this blog and give us your feedback. I promise to do our best to make this the most informative and compelling rugby coaching blog on the web.
If you haven’t already, you may wish to sign up for our Better Rugby Coaching weekly newsletter. As a member, I guarantee you will receive truly valuable rugby coaching tips every week.
Best of all it’s free!
Yours in rugby
Toby Curthoys, Better Rugby Coaching Publisher
Filed under: John Grisby, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Fitness, Rugby Training | Tags: American Football, DNA Performance, Football, John Grisby, Players, Rugby Coaching
This post is by John Grisby
It makes no difference if you do not understand the mechanics of American football, the scoring system, time keeping, or players’ positions. In this specific case, these things are irrelevant to understanding the scope of the coaching achievement.
Over 30 seasons coach Roger Barta has won 273 games, lost 58 and guided his team to six state American football championship titles. His Smith Centre High School team from Kansas are currently on a four-year winning streak. During 2007-2008 they have won 54 games in a row and outscored opponents 844 to 20. They broke a national record set in 1925 by scoring 72 points in the first quarter of a game, and despite replacing the entire senior team before halftime with first year freshmen, they went on to win that game 83-0.
Barta’s approach could not contrast more starkly with the way most coaches push their players in competitive sports. For this team, playing football is almost the last thing on their mind. In fact they are not really bothered about winning games. The “how”, “who”, “what” and “why” of what they do goes far beyond the pitch and gives an entirely different meaning to the word “winning”.
Coach Barta possesses years of technical, tactical and strategic expertise. He still enjoys writing his scouting reports and running the same offensive and defensive formations season after season. Yet there is something very different about how under him, each individual as a member of the team approaches every practice, game and championship title.
What emerges is a picture of how he uses his qualities as a coach, both as a leader and a human being, combined with his football expertise, to make an impact.
That impact starts in the first year a player steps on the field right through to their senior year, and, one would imagine, continues throughout their lives.
Ask any Smith Center player what makes him perform so well and it is probable that he will not mention football but rather the qualities of the coach. Here are some examples:
Purpose – “He puts special things into winning. Small things like silence on the bus and holding hands before taking the field”.
Challenge and enjoyment in the process – “We like to set different goals every game like only allowing ourselves a certain number of yards each time we have the ball”.
Leadership – “As good a coach he is, he’s a better guy. He treats everybody like gold”.
Mentoring and Being – “He speaks with us about how to be men, things like respect – then shows us”.
Responsibility and awareness – “Each player signs a contract to be drug, alcohol and tobacco-free – for ourselves and the team”.
The qualities Barta demonstrates are especially powerful in the critical years when young talent needs to be nurtured in order to flourish. According to the players, the result is a transformational experience for each player.
Coach Barta’s success shows at the very least the enormous potential for a professional development club or youth academy to adopt this approach. If you can develop coaches who have a personal signature powerful enough to inspire people and an entire system, it usually delivers huge returns to the club, to the coaches, and most important of all, to the players.
About the author: John Grisby is a Performance Coach at DNA Performance which helps individuals and teams become aware of their potential www.dnaperformance.co.uk
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Fitness, Rugby News, Rugby Refereeing, Rugby Skills, Rugby Team Management, Rugby Training | Tags: Frank Hadden, Rugby Coaching, rugby debate, Rugby Practice, Rugby Skills
After the Osprey’s (the Welsh regional side) lost to Saracens in the Heineken on Sunday, a disappointed head
coach, Lyn Jones was asked by an TV interviewer about the team’s errors.
He was probably thinking “Can it be my fault a 40+ capped international player drops the ball?”
He diplomatically deferred to possible tactical errors. Some newspapers however, were quick to question his rugby coaching ability.
Rugby coaching is about coaching rugby skills. A coach shapes a team’s approach to the scrum and lineout. Each ruck and maul will be influenced by the training sessions and feedback over weeks, months and years.
But as Frank Hadden, the Scotland coach, has said previously in Rugby Coach, it is the player who steps over the whitewash of the touchline to play the game, not you.
It is hard to watch your team play and make unforced errors. It is easy to pin the blame and quickly to look to either the players or yourself for fault. Fuel for your next rugby practice.
The enlightened view is not to blame anybody. Personally I find this hard to do. “Move on, don’t focus on the past, focus on the now” is the mantra that the top players use. Tiger Woods, the world’s best golfer, is a shining example of the removing the blame.
Where does this leave the coach? In the TV interview, he has to say who he blames. To his players, he has to say “let’s play the next game”.
I quite like the approach of Manchester United coach, Alex Ferguson. He says it all in the changing room straight after the game and that’s it. Mind you, I would not like to be on the end of his post match criticism!
Dan, Better Rugby Coaching Editor
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Fitness, Rugby News, Rugby Refereeing, Rugby Skills, Rugby Team Management, Rugby Training | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, Rugby Coaching, rugby debate, sports coaching community
Hi, my name is Dan Cottrell and I want to welcome you to the Better Rugby Coaching Blog.
I have been coaching rugby for over 15 years at lots of different levels and age groups and I want to share my thoughts on some of the current thinking on rugby skills, rugby drills and rugby training, As you may know I am editor of Rugby Coach. We produce a series of rugby coaching resources which covers sessions, practice, plays and tactics on every aspect of the game.
This blog gives me and my team an ideal opportunity to give the latest comment on rugby coaching life-I speak to coaches every day. In fact it is newsworthy when I spend a day not replying to an email, posting a comment on the forum or chatting on the phone to another coach. This blog gives you a window on my coaching world so you can share the hopes, fears and joys of rugby coaching.
I am still learning. I have written over 300,000 words since 2003 on rugby scrums, kicking, rugby defence, tackling amongst many other areas. And I know there are still more words to write. I am open to opinion but I have a set of core values. In the Rugby Coach office we receive plenty of emails every week telling us we are saying the right things, and sometimes disagreeing. We don’t mind the debate. However we take safety and child protection very seriously.
So this blog is for everyone in the coaching community. A chance to hear and share views. And a chance for us to post up some great ideas from others: video, pictures or stories from all around the rugby coaching world.
Dan, Better Rugby Coaching Editor
