Improve your players’ handling by giving them plenty of opportunities to pass the ball in training. Not all the passes are the same, and not all passers either. Help your players discover which works best for them, while giving them hints and tips on how to progress.
Here we have four videos of activities you can mix into your training to develop better passing and then move onto decision-making situations where they can use those passes.
Start with our Fun, competitive, passing warm up. It’s ideal for all ages of players and isolates the top half of the body. The competitive element makes the players look for ways to win, which, in turn, leads to them thinking more about their hand positions and follow through.
Take this detail to the next stage with Make kids better passers. This exercise from Mark Calverley has the players giving direct feedback to their peers on the accuracy of their skills. It’s great because it allows the players to become coaches, so making them think more deeply about their own skills.
Then we have video activities from two experienced skills coaches. Ben Pegna, who worked with the Wasps academy shows us how we can use an enhanced Game of netball to focus on better handling in a more chaotic environment.
Rob Appleyard, who coached the Dragons and was a skills coach with the WRU has a great warm-up 3 v 2 activity which can be used in training and before matches to get in plenty of ball work and decisions.
Use this kneeling down passing exercise to work on good upper body style for passing, where the players use their shoulders and hip rotation to generate power in the pass, and elbows and wrist to create acceleration and accuracy. It's also good for working on catch and pass techniques in isolation. MORE
Develop your players’ skills within a games environment. Mix questioning, demonstration and instruction to allow the players to understand
their roles and responsibilities. MORE
Ball-retention post-contact is essential to your team’s continuity, so here we take a look at the pros and cons of some of the most common techniques. Encourage your players to think about which ball placement technique should be used when. When coaching within game-play, question players on the effectiveness of their chosen ball presentation and its impact on subsequent phases of play. 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
Work on awareness, ball handling and communicate. You need a bunch of different shaped balls and a jumper. Game devised by Harry, Charley, Charlie, Elsa and Tony (dad). INTRODUCTION TO GAME THE SKILLS AND THE GAME GAME Put a bunch of balls into a small area. Blindfold kid. A jumper/rugby shirt is ideal. Stand... MORE
With lockdowns across the world, what can you do meaningfully at home to keep players engaged, motivated, healthy and unskilled. We are going to share as many of the great ideas that are out there. MORE
