Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby News, Uncategorized | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, brian smith, earnshaw, Rugby Coaching, Tony Hanks
Been away from the blog for a little while, though not stopped interviewing, writing and producing materials. This month alone I have been putting together articles with Brian Smith, Didier Retiere, Denis Betts, Russell Earnshaw, Tony Hanks, Justin Bishop and Richard Graham. Plus welcomed on board the Rugby Weekly Team two great new grassroots coaches who are coaching tutors and mentors.
Coaching wise I have been working with three teams, all with different cultures, ambitions and outcomes. Plus I have been speaking to lots of you about the ups and downs of coaching.
Look forward to catching with you over the Xmas period and writing about what is happening in the rugby coaching world.
Dan
http://www.betterrugbycoaching.com
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Drills, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: fast hands, quick and easy drills for rugby handling, rugby handling drills, soft handling in rugby
I like these drills because the players have to start outside their comfort zone and yet will enjoy the success when they are good at them. Ideal for warm ups and for work ons at the start of sessions.
I have used all these drills/activities and found them to work well with a good range of players. Probably a bit far advanced for Under 11s unless they are particularly skilful.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Training | Tags: Black Ops, coaching rugby, learning, video games
We find our kids spend too much time on them, become addicted to them and end up with pasty white faces…the curse of the video game.
But we can learn plenty from the kids “playing video games” for our own coaching.
1. Why do they play on them for so long
Because they are competitive. The players keep wanting more.
Lesson: players like to play and they enjoy a challenge.
2. They can make mistakes and not feel bad
“Game over” and start again is the worst they can hear.
Lesson: players know when they have made a mistake – don’t make a fuss, let them start again.
3. Practice makes perfect
They keep playing, experimenting and improving – the finger and eye coordination is breathtaking.
Lesson: think about the practice environment – they are playing a game, learning from their mistakes and working out how to solve the problems themselves.
4. No manuals, no help?
To start the game, they may use a brief tutorial, but then plunge straight in. However, they will want tips, cheats and shortcuts. They get this from their friends and surfing websites.
Lesson: be a port of call for problem solving, not just someone who tells them what to do. They will ask when they are ready – are you ready for them to ask?
Dan Cottrell
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, rugby defence, Rugby Drills | Tags: defence techniques, R80 rugby videos, Rugby Drills, tackling, tackling drills, technical rugby drill
The R80 series of videos give some good technical methods and this is one of the simplest and most basic.
Watch for the boxer stance and approach and how square the tackler remains during the tackle.
Since the drill concentrates on technique, it is worth “suiting up” the tackler so he can make multiple rugby tackles.
Overall a good rugby tackling drill that is simple to set up and easy to observe for good technique.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Drills, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: coaching rugby passing, lateral passing, rookie coaching, rugby basic passing, tag coaching, usa rugby
The US rugby development team are doing a great job rolling out rugby to new players. Here is one their coaches showing young players how to develop lateral passing. It is not a new idea, but it is extremely well executed.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Conditioning, rugby defence, Rugby Drills, Rugby Fitness, rugby sevens, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: key phrases for rugby coaching, rugby coaching words, rugby knowledge
Given that the England soccer manager, Fabio Capello, believes that he only needs 100 words to talk to the players, I set out to produce a similiar list. In fact, I got to 106, but I am sure I have left some out.
The rule for the list is this: ONE WORD IN means ONE WORD OUT. So any suggestions must come with a word to leave out.
Advantage, Backs, Back Play, Ball, Bind, Blind Side, Blitz, Box Kick, Centre, Charge Down, Chip, Clean Out, Clearance, Communication, Concentrate, Conditioning, Contact, Conversion, Cool Down, Corner flagging, Crash Ball, Dead Ball, Decision Making, Decoy, Defensive Line, Development, Drift, Drive, Drop Goal, Drop Out, Dummy, Engage, Fast Hands, First Phase, Five Metre, Fix, Flankers, Flat Pass, Fly Half, Footwork, Forward Pass, Forwards, Foul Play, Free Kick, Fringes, Front Row, Gain Line, Game Plan, Game Sense, Gate, Go Forward, Grid, Grubber, Handoff, Hooker, Inside Centre, Jackle, Jumper, Kick, Knock-On, Laws, Lifter, Lineout, Line Speed, Lock, Loose Head Prop, Mark, Maul, Miss, No 8, Offside, Open Side, Outside Centre, Overlap, Pass, Peel, Penalty, Phase Play, Punt, Quick Ball, Recycling, Restart, Ruck, Scrum, Scrum Half, Seal, Second Phase, Set Piece, Set Play, Sevens, Side Step, Skill, Slow Ball, Spin Pass, Support, Switch, Tackle, Technique, Tight Head Prop, Touch, Try, Turnover, Warm-Up, Wheel, Wing,Yellow Card.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching | Tags: coaching styles, good drill practice, handling drills, keeping players interested, motivation, training
Here is a good demonstration of how a coach keeps players interested.
The drill itself is easily adapted to rugby training, and could be used for rugby handling, rugby warm ups or rugby footwork.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, rugby defence, Rugby Drills | Tags: confidence and tackling, rugby contact, rugby contact drills, rugby tackling, tackling drills, youth coaching
Here are a couple of great videos…the kids are having a fun time tackling and bumping into bags.
Rugby contact and rugby tackling does not need to be just about “technique”. Confidence, enjoyment and hunger all play a part.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Conditioning, Rugby Skills | Tags: All Blacks training, Mike Cron, rugby warm ups, scrummaging, warming up for contact
Here is All Black front row guru Mike Cron showing some great rugby warm ups for contact…
Lots of fun but with some good wrestling moves thrown in. Ideal for players before a full on rugby session.
Filed under: Better Rugby Blog Guests, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Drills, Rugby Training | Tags: lineouts, Rugby Coaching, training time for rugby
By Ian Diddams
If as a coach you were asked if you would give no input or coaching time to 25% of your side’s opportunities to win the ball, what would your answer be?
If I asked you if you would consider not bothering to practice opportunities to take ball legitmately from the oppostion, what might your answer be?
I would guess that you would be very unlikely to agree that these areas were worthy of consideration. I would imagine that you would answer that of course you wouldn’t ignore a quarter of opprtunities to win the ball, or ways to take the ball away from the opposing team.
So how much time at practice do you spend on your lineout development?
As coaches especially at child, youth and amateur levels our contact time with players is limited, often only 90 minutes a week, maybe double that if we are lucky over two sessions. It is especially difficult to achieve as much as we would like if we are the sole coach. These caveats notwithstanding however, it often seems that many sides spend little time on their lineout, and what does happen tends to be the forwards practising what they already do, compounded by little effort made to emulate a match day lineout with defending jumpers or time pressures.
The reasons, especially at age group levels, are understandable. Finding the time to fit in a session between warm-up, cool down, individual, unit and team skills is hard enough, not forgetting the pressing urgency at young age groups to also ensure that scrummage and post-tackle contest (ruck and maul) is practiced if only for player safety reasons. Allied to which may be the lack of understanding of the coaches themselves; if they never played in the forwards, are a convert from another sport or played when lineouts were very different how can they be expected to meaningfully coach this area?
It is not unusual to come across teenage age group teams that have no lineout plans, whether attacking or defending, and limited lineout skills. Jumping and timing with an accurate throw, options after the catch and defensive tactics are often not clearly in existence. Even at senior levels, it’s a case of “same old stuff” week after week.
So – when you are planning your next sessions for your squad, are you going to ignore, overlook or pay scant regard to 25% of your side’s chances of winning the ball? Or will you be thinking about your side’s lineout?
