EXPERT SESSIONS AND ADVICE FROM QUALIFIED AND EXPERIENCED GRASSROOTS RUGBY COACHES
This is taken from the excellent Australian NRL coaching handbook.
Nice from the NRL. But how is it achieved? Trust…
Here’s a familiar tale.
There was a loud blast on the whistle.
The coach looked slick. If only the parents could see…
Hungry but hearty they halted. And gazed… What was that?
“If youse blokes don’t shut-up I’m not coming next week! I mean it!”
This isn’t engagement and this is worse than non-engagement.
In simple terms, threats have never worked. If you are telling the players to “engage or else”, you’ve
Put it this way, if threats worked, teachers would still use canes.
Use positive behaviours to build trust.
Be meticulous. Here is my preparation despite my experience. If you look prepared they have hope.
Be patient and practice routines.This is 12 minutes into first session with Queensland 15s Warriors. Teams take ownership of positive norming. Hear someone call out ‘drop’.
Bring the adults in. Four coaches? One leading an activity? All hands on deck! Get parents in too like Uncle Gunny.
Reinforcement of ‘engagement’ by ‘whistle while you work’ (Bob Pangrazi) attention game. Can incorporate ‘Tower of Power’, crawling, falls/rolls which are good for physicality preparation.
If we want to maximise learning and engagement for players, we need to kick queues to touch and offer them a practice environment that will capture their imagination and help them improve as rugby players. But how do you coach without queues? MORE
Don’t you just love it when someone tells you that something you’ve always believe to be true is wrong. I’m not talking about all this post-truth nonsense which seems to invade our media channels these days. I’m talking about the sort of information we’ve held as common practice and then passed this onto our players. Water intake or hydration is one such area. Making sure we are properly hydrated is not an issue. How we go about it, or what the signs are, these do need revisiting. MORE
In simple terms, metacognition is thinking about thinking. It’s reflecting on a decision, working out how to make it better next time. What does that mean and look like for players? MORE
in Blog, Rugby coaching
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Spaced learning is probably something you’ve already encountered in life without ever really realising it. It's the idea that it's easier to learn a topic or skill when it’s broken down into shorter periods or chunks. MORE
Video games have unlocked the secrets of flow state. Let’s talk about flow, video games, and how we can make learning more captivating. Ana Lorena Fabrega, educator and EDUprenuer explains more from a school context. MORE
