Too many youth coaches are teetering on the edge of the “10,000 hours’ training” trap – and it risks killing our game. We’re in danger of spending too much time “practising” rugby and not enough time playing.
Players – and note that term “players” – will drop out of rugby because they’re bored, tired or injured. It will also drain the love of the game out of volunteers at grass-roots level.
You may be familiar with the line that elite performers have practised for 10,000 hours and average players for only 4,000. It was based on studies of violinists.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he cites other examples, such as The Beatles, who clocked up a staggering 1,200 gigs by 1964. Or Bill Gates, who, addicted to computer programming, easily exceeded 10,000 hours at the computer terminal before he launched Microsoft in 1975.
Andre Agassi is a sporting example, being forced to hit a million tennis shots a year as a child. He said in his autobiography: “I play tennis for a living even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion and always have.”
But this research asks the wrong questions for sportsmen and women. It presumes that all kids want to play at international level. In fact, most dream of playing for their country but in a fictitious way – they really don’t see how they’ll progress along that journey.
This is real danger. We, as adults, think we know how to help the player on this journey. “Perfect performance practice”, “physical literacy” and “optimum learning windows” are just some of the theories we can project onto our players. Yet if a child does five hours of rugby a week from the age of six, they won’t become an expert until they’re 44. It’s totally unrealistic.
So, if we want to achieve the prescribed level of expertise players need in the future, we’ll need to follow rigidly the schemes for “child sport”. That leads to too much time spent in pursuit of skill acquisition at too young an age. Suddenly, there are sports educational pathways for five- to nine-year-olds.
If we take the wrong path, junior rugby will be measured on results and not enjoyment. And that will take the fun out of playing and socialising around the sport. So, forget 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. Let’s play rugby to win friends, not tick boxes.
Sarah Cottingham, teacher educator and Educational Neuroscience MA, challenges us on how we think we learn and how we might apply it to our coaching.
Dan Cottrell provides the rugby examples. MORE
It is interesting to reflect on the impact of famous author Dorothy L. Sayers on modern coaching. Way back in 1947, she challenged teachers to make their students think deeper and think more, so they learn for themselves. MORE
In my previous article, I outlined how I set up my Veo for games and training.
I've now had a greater opportunity to use it for recording games.
Again, I come at this without much recent experience of using video analysis software. I don't have much time to sit down and code games. Instead, I will mainly use the footage to pick out some key points to help inform my coaching and to share moments with the players. MORE
This article comes from Alan Zondagh LinkedIn account. It is discussed by Alan with Phil Llewellyn in a Roundup Rodeo special, with guests Ian Costello and Nick Wood. Former Bulls Director of Rugby and seasoned South African coach Alan Zondagh believes the sport is in need of a drastic overall change. My rugby journey started... MORE
Bill Walsh won three Superbowls with the San Francisco 49ers. When he took over as head coach in 1979 they were arguably the worst team in American football history. Within two years they were the best. This sympathetic and honest book, published after Walsh’s death in 2007, but largely in his own words, explains in detail the methods he used to achieve extraordinary success. MORE
From our Rugby Coach Weekly archive of Touchline Tales, commenting on a game in an U15 Cup tournament. Last weekend we lost 20-22 in a cup game. The opposition scored at the end from a disputed lineout on our line and we felt our jumper was impeded. MORE