EXPERT SESSIONS AND ADVICE FROM QUALIFIED AND EXPERIENCED GRASSROOTS RUGBY COACHES
Use these questions to support planning and reflection in your players after they have played in a Ready 4 Rugby match.
Below each question, I add some of the possible answers and follow up questions. Of course, the players may come up with even better thoughts.
What was your individual highlight for yourself?
What was your highlight of someone else?
Asking players to notice the positive aspects about their own game and someone else’s may not come naturally to people. These are questions I would consistently utilise to allow them lots of practise.
Also, the players should approach the session knowing they will be asked these questions at the end. It is better to be prepared to answer so you can start framing your answers.
Peer feedback is a huge boost to confidence. It means the players are not constantly looking to you as the coach for feedback or affirmation.
What decisions did you think you made that were effective and why irrespective of outcome?
Prompting players to review their own decision-making process irrespective of the outcome helps them understand a process can be well thought out and executed even if the outcome was not desirable.
An example of this may be a kick from a player over the top for another player to catch. That may be the best space, it may be well communicated, the player may execute the kick fantastically. However, the catching player might just not get there and the opposition may scoop up the ball and end up scoring.
Was it a poor decision? I’d always argue no.
Reflecting with that player so they recognise it was a well thought out and well-executed decision will benefit them and ensure they maintain the courage to keep making decisions as well as recognising what factors lie outside of their control.
How will you develop your performance moving forward?
How can you utilise your reflections from this game to work with other players to improve them and yourself?
Photo: Andy Watts Media
Building actions from both these type of reflective questions ensures that the process is not just one of reflecting for the sake of reflecting.
Whether you establish specific outcomes from your reflections or it just informs further thinking is most likely down to the individual and their understanding and experience.
Neither is more important than the other. If a player is new to the act of reflection then some form of record-keeping could be very beneficial to ensure the thoughts or actions are not lost and can be revisited.
This doesn’t have to be too onerous, and should suit the player’s needs. Some players will love to write or note down their reflections. Others will be worried or simply find it a chore which will reduce their enjoyment of the games.
Ask the players what they want, after outlining the benefits.
Why do you think your team achieved the things it did successfully? Why do you think you achieved the things you did successfully?
Once again these reflective questions focus on the success of the team or individual.
We have a natural tendency to drift towards negativity so ensuring the players focus first on positives goes some way to correcting this balance.
You may link these successes to those that were listed by the players if they answered the ‘What was your individual highlight for yourself? What was your highlight of someone else?’ questions as these would have now been recognised both their peers and the individual players as being a marker of success. This would hopefully develop confidence and also grow the player’s picture of what success may look like in a game without the direct input of a coach.
A coach will always have an opinion of what they deem to be a success but that doesn’t always mean it is the only one that should be used. With younger players, the position of power of a coach often means that coach’s view holds too much sway.
Looking to address this imbalance and have the players increase the promotion of their own views of success across the squad can then lead to a far more rounded perspective and agreed understanding.
Check out all the questions and discussion in the following posts:
in Return to play, Rugby drills
In designing my first session back after lockdown, I need to understand my focus, principles and my team's current state. What is my focus for this return to rugby? I want the players to enjoy their return to rugby and I want to run sessions that allow for plenty of social interaction that they have probably missed. I need to be empathetic to the fact that they will have done a varying amount of exercise in the last few months. I do want to use the next few months to re-enforce my own principles of play for my backline players and build on the skill levels and understanding that will underpin that. MORE
in Email Newsletters, Return to play
Many of our sporting friends are facing tough times with lockdown rules reducing opportunities to play. However, if you can get out onto the pitch, but are perhaps limited to what you can do within your bubble, here are some ideas for sessions. MORE
in Return to play, Rugby coaching, Rugby drills
In Return to play needs more winning and competition, we discussed that competition plays an integral part in developing players whether we approve of it or not. In our current RTP environments, it might be missing. We gave the example of using intrasquad/interclub tournaments as a way of encouraging some competition in our sessions. In this article, we are going to discuss another way of creating competition, a Sports Day with our players as competitors. A 'Sports Day' gives us the perfect opportunity: To create a competitive environment within our sessions. Provide us with a chance to carry out some covert physical testing of players which can be used to guide future session design. To analyse how our players perform, and if extra fitness work is needed, adapt our sessions to provide more physical stimulus. MORE
in Passing & Handling, Return to play
Exploit the space on the outside for your wingers by using effective passing and fixing defenders. Give your speedsters enough room to run in that space. If you have a quick winger, then you need to hold up the midfield defence and allow that player time and space to attack. MORE
in Return to play, Small-sided games
Rugby is missing real competition. Whilst we can see how competition can sometimes hinder development, especially when coaches only prioritise work in sessions to achieve this goal, it must be said that without it lurking in the background, sessions feel a bit detached. MORE
in Return to play, Small-sided games
Use these questions to support planning and reflection in your players as they are playing Ready 4 Rugby matches/training. Below each question, I add some of the possible answers and follow up questions. Of course, the players may come up with even better thoughts. MORE
