Coaching Philosophy and Goal Setting

I’ve recently joined the Twitter-verse and despite being sceptical before about its value, a friend encouraged me to try it out and just look to ‘follow’ people who I might find ‘in the know’ on subjects important to me.  I’ve been trying to find stuff to do with coaching and some have already paid off, with some offering interesting thoughts and others links to articles, etc. I’d not have found on my own.

One such person is a coach from Australia called Damon Emtage ( @damonemtage ) who seems to post regularly articles, videos, etc. to do with coaching across many sports.  I find this extremely useful, because sometimes I feel that rugby’s a bit behind other sports with regard to introspection and examination of the finer points of what we do.  (My first sports were American football and basketball and even at the high school level I feel I was taught more about tactics and techniques than I even see in elite rugby programs.)

One article he’s posted that’s got me thinking about the new season is entitled “Coaching Behaviours: Working towards a Greater Coaching Philosophy – An Interview with Ben Bartlett” which featured in Soccer Coaching, vol. 54 (2011).  A pdf of that article can be found HERE.  Bartlett is a regional coach development manager for the Football Association in England.  I met a couple people in this role with the RFU at a clinic a few years ago and they blew me away with their knowledge of the game and the coaching practice.  The interview with Bartlett highlights a few areas that all coaches should implement as part of their coaching philosophy and team structure regardless of level.

The highlights for me are:

1. Developing an actual philosophy and outlining a set of personal values which is shared with your team (and parents of your athletes if you’re working with teens or younger, in my opinion) so they know what to expect from you.

2. Maintaining a strong, if not total, athlete-centred focus.  In my opinion, only at the university, provincial or international level should ‘winning’ be at the forefront of one’s focus.  At all other levels, we should be encouraging athletes to enjoy the sport, learn more about it and themselves, and to grow as both athletes and people.  With my teams, we treat winning games and the league as the bonus on top of all those other good things (our ‘Dream Goals’).

3. Encouraging athletes, in the framework outlined in point 2, to take ownership for their learning and development.  Establish expectations for both athletes and coaches.  Do this with their input, if not actually demanding they create them as a team, with you there to clarify / re-direct unrealistic expectations.  These can be as simple as attendance expectations and go as far as keeping a diary to track progress.

4. Establish a professional relationship with all players to be able to track their progress and hear their concerns.  It might also be useful to bring team captains into this so that players know they’ve got several people to turn to if one is preferred over another.  This will allow coaches to know how things are going and to be able to better support / adapt / alter as needed.  Even knowing something simple as ‘For what reasons are you playing?’ and ‘Are you enjoying yourself?’ can allow a coach to know how to plan the season and training sessions to meet players’ needs.

One that wasn’t covered directly, but is a way to establish and measure the above, is to hold a goal setting session with the team.  Again, I encourage players to come up with these themselves and I’ll be on hand to help clarify, but not direct.  If they’re not used to the process, the language will be quite vague so the coach’s best role can be to chose the best wording for their input and check if all agree on it.  Their goals should be SMART – specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time-referenced.  I like them to set a few team goals related to performance, and then encourage units and/or individuals to set one or two (maybe an attack and defence) personal goals.

Some won’t be interested in the individual goals, and I think for club or school athletes, that’s fine.  The team goals, for example, can be measured on points scored / limited (on defence), or by tactical criteria – esp. if you’re not scoring or being scored on a lot! – such as line breaks made or tackle completion percentage.  These are difficult to keep track of, but video cameras are relatively cheap these days and there are often volunteers available among injured players, students needing volunteer hours, or parents who’re willing to operate it!

Finally, it’s important to have some meetings to check how things are going and see if goals need altering, and then the entire team should re-visit these at the end of the season to gauge success and see where to go next season.

Goals should:

1. Have a clear definition
2. Have justification for importance
3. Have a clearly outlined pathway for achievement
4. List possible obstacles and strategies to overcome those obstacles
5. Include a declaration, preferably signed by a witness (as I feel it establishes accountability)

Attached is a sample of the goal setting tracking sheet I used with a high school team.  I’d probably simplify this next time I use it as there’s some repetition and the purpose, at this level, should be to provide some focus and accountability, not necessarily establish a professional approach (unless you have athletes who are already in provincial or national sides!)  As mentioned above, not all of my players were interested but for those who were, it allowed me to support their progress and even to incorporate their goals (as most were so general they’d be shared by others, whether they told me or not) into my practice planning.

Goal Setting Sheet

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Tips on Coaching Kids

I don’t have a lot of experience coaching pre-teens, but fully respect those who do as I think it requires a lot more patience than I probably have.  It’s an important time in the development of young players – one not so well developed here in Canada, where most people don’t start until they enter secondary school (Grade 9, typically aged 14).  The one year I did coach a team at this level, I worked with a group of U13s in a full-contact school sevens league.  It was a rewarding experience as the kids were all very eager – as they tend to be at that age – and early-on I learned about some of the differences coaching at this level than at the older teens / adult level where I’ve done most of my coaching.

Today, I discovered this great article by Australia-based coach Scott Allen, who does the wonderful video analysis posts for the Green and Gold Rugby Blog.  Like me, he’s not had a lot of experience at youth level, but I think he outlines some very important things to remember here:  http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/coaching-teenagers/

For my Canadian followers, I think there are a lot of transferable lessons in the article that can be used for your beginning Grade 9/10 teams.  That said, my season with the U13s reminded me that at the heart of the game at any level is doing the basics very well.  With that in mind, I think we should consider most of what Scott outlines in the article, in addition to some lessons that we DEFINITELY need to adhere to at all levels:

• Progressing drills to show purpose and allow for them to be practised in game like situations
• Keeping drills short and sharp so as not to bore athletes, but also to move the focus from in the box, to more challenging activities
• Being focused on addressing what needs fixing, not over-doing areas that are going well (Fess up: are you one of those coaches who has scrum / lineout sessions every practice despite their success in games?)
• Being prepared to alter or adapt a drill to address a need or when it’s really not working for your players

One thing I’d add that didn’t feature is that I think pre-teens (and even the early teenage years for boys) is too soon to pigeon hole athletes into a position.  Boys still have a lot of growing to do and it might so happen that the biggest boy in Grade 7 who you play as a lock might have got the tallest he’s going to be, and there aren’t many 5’11” locks even at amateur levels these days.  As with most levels I’ve coached at, the focus shouldn’t be about winning, but fostering a passion for the game and developing your athletes’ abilities as complete rugby players who can pass, catch, run, tackle, contest, communicate, and begin to develop their game sense.  If you’ve got 15 players on the pitch who can do all that as well as the next, then you’re surely going to be successful!

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Attack Patterns?

I just finished reading another excellent analytical article by Scott Allen over at the Green and Gold Rugby blog.  In it he looks at attacking patterns utilized by Wales, the All Blacks and the Wallabies and addresses the strengths and limitations of their various approaches to the game.  It’s a brilliant article, with an accompanying narrated video, and I suggest everyone read / watch it to gain a sense of what people are doing at the top end of the game.

Wallaby Attack Patterns by Scott Allen

Scott also uses quotes from former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones and player David Campese to demonstrate the two extremes with regard to employing attacking patterns.  Jones argues that players need less to think about and so should have drilled into them patterns of play that give them greater focus.  Campese feels that coaches adopting such prescriptive strategies are taking away from players their ability to read and direct a game based upon what they see in front of them.

Allen places these two men at polar opposites of this debate, and I have to say that I lean more toward the Campese side of the argument where amateur rugby is concerned.  I can see the benefit of providing structures that everyone can follow which play to their strengths, establishing consistency and efficient execution in attack.  There are several factors to consider when deciding to adopt structures, but I think the most important are time and commitment.  If you are in a short school / summer season – as we have in Canada – do you have time to implement this plan of attack and have all players on the same page by the team playoffs roll around?  If the strategy is vastly different from what your players are used to, are you going to risk unnecessary confusion – which may result in vital losses and risk your playoff hopes altogether?  Do you even have full commitment to your training sessions such that everyone gets sufficient time to learn and adopt these structures?

I’d say that school and university teams here have a better opportunity to fully adopt structured play given that they tend to train most weekdays, if not every.  Students do have other commitments, however, and I’m always worried that if a few people miss out on key sessions that they could be the proverbial monkeywrench in the otherwise well-oiled machine.  This is definitely an issue with club rugby as only once in my 14 years have I ever coached a club side that could consistently have its starting XV show up to important pre-game team-focused practices (needless to say, they were the most successful club side I’ve coached!) .  In my opinion, it can be a colossal waste of effort and time to be too rigid with one’s attacking structures only to have them disrupted or not adhered to by the players who aren’t familiar with it (which I feel was a factor leading to one of my most disappointing losses, something I should have taking greater care to correct).  One can send out a ‘play book’ electronically, but most athletes tend to be kinaesthetic learners and as such need to run through new things several times physically.

So what is there to do?  I discussed a very simple strategy of Playing to the Principles of the game in a previous article.  Simply put, if you players know how to attack space, call for and pass the ball, how to support each other in the loose and retain possession, you can play effective rugby!  These are things that can be worked on by any number of players and which even high level professionals continue to work on and develop, in both basic technique and highly dynamic situations.  For me, the vast majority of a training session consists of developing tools, vision, understanding, and communication when employing those basic techniques and tactics and adhering to a simple set of principles.

Reaching a point where everyone can be comfortable playing what some call “heads up” rugby can take a while, however.  It can depend as much on the coach’s ability to transfer knowledge and facilitate understanding as it does players’ abilities to adopt and employ it.  I continually work at it, and aim to get my team to a point where our plan of attack includes little structure and a lot of freedom.  Early in the season, or especially with a newer group of players, it’s probably safer to flip that with lots of structure and not much freedom.  I’d challenge coaches though to move away from that as soon as possible, removing the scaffolding little by little and constantly challenging ALL players (not just decision makers) to read and understand the realities of the game such that they can make decisions on their own.

For example:  Using a wide-wide, pattern from a lineout should allow an attacking team to run against slower / unfit forwards when they get to the other side of the pitch and reverse the direction, if played quickly.  BUT … sometimes teams know this a limitation for them so the tight five players will immediately push themselves wide to cover the initial wide attack threat and give their backs a chance to flip around for the reverse phases.  This can leave a gaping hole or opportunity to catch defenders in poor positions in the channel where the lineout took place.  Teams at the levels I’ve coached at rarely try scan the field for such opportunities, following fairly predictable patterns of play or having random goes at the defence with no clear purpose whatsoever.  In the above situation, a fast and powerful forward or flighty wing / scrum half could really cause havoc down that narrow ‘lineout’ channel if allowed to chance it and have a go.

I think, as I often say in this blog, the key is to actually PLAY RUGBY at training.  Give your players the chance to see these things unfold in a game situation before they actually have to play a game.  If you don’t have the numbers to run relatively even numbers against one another, then create conditioned scenarios that mimic real aspects of the game or use tackle bags, etc. as stand-ins.  (When I coached a team that only had about 10 ever shot to training, we used bags as post-guard defence dummies around theoretical rucks.  These became no-go areas in training and it resulted in us playing a much wider game which played to our smaller, faster attributes.  You could flip that if you have a forward dominant team, focusing on breaching the narrow channel quickly and spinning wide only when they’ve disrupted the defensive line.)  Let your players know that you will ask them what they saw in front of then and that you’ll ask them to justify their decisions.  Importantly, this must be done in an environment where they will not be criticised but supported or sympathetically guided in their decision making and explanations for their actions.  Try not to give answers, but work through the ‘teachable moment’ with Socratic questioning.

The worst aspect of rigid patterns is watching a game and seeing players plug away at what they were told to do, missing clear and easy opportunities to gain ground or score.  I’d also hope that turning over initiative to the players makes the game more fun for them, giving them a sense that they really did create opportunities rather than have the coach on the sidelines tell them what to do.  For players who are striving for higher levels of play, this is the sort of development they need most – going beyond the basics and leaving the script aside to truly understand the game that’s being played in front of them, developing rugby smarts and tactical awareness regardless of position.

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Underdogs and Gamesmanship

While visiting my favourite rugby forum today I was pointed toward an interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker.  Entitled “How David Beats Goliath – How underdogs break the rules” he looks at how an a-typical group of middle school girls went to the national basketball finals on playing defence that was well within the rules, but often not seen as ‘fair play’ at that level.  He presents an interesting case that there are countless episodes in history, as well as sport, in which the underdog has emerged victorious by stretching the accepted rules of the game to focus on particular strengths and hide potentially destructive weaknesses.

The person who posted the article asked if there was anything like the full-court press employed by the girls’ coaches that exists in rugby.  Not only could I think of a few, but it reminded me of times when I’ve acted in much the same way.

I coached high school girls for a season and I – controversially at first – declared that we’d have no plays as I knew from experience (ages ago myself, and seeing people still do it) that teams spend hours on them a week and rarely use them by comparison, and less so use them effectively. I made sure that scrums were safe, and that we had three different jumps in the line out but we put those to bed quite early in the season as well, only ‘practising’ them during team runs for a few mintues at time before moving on.

Instead, we spent the vast majority of our time not even on drills, but on game related scenarios. We played a lot of defence and a lot of open field, dynamic attack scenarios.  Sometimes we’d play full contact, full-field, but often we played touch because our strategy was about playing in space, on our feet, with ball in hand.  Our only real tactics were:

1. Get the ball away from the ‘muck’ (girls tend to clump around rucks, leaving lots of room on the wing)
2. Attack spaces, not faces when out wide.
3. Attack the branches of the tree, not the trunk when in tight.
4. Support the ball carrier physically and vocally.  (Which allowed everyone to call out attacking opportunities as opposed to dumping all decision making on 9 and 10.)
5. Our defence was well organised and we opted to steal the ball from the tackle rather than waste energy on rucks already lost.  This usually resulted in us having more defenders standing than attackers, allowing us to double team or attempt intercepts on the next tackle.

We won city the city finals and only lost the regional final, which would have sent us to provincials, because I was forced to play last year’s stand-out no. 8 who’d been out injured most of the previous month and who hadn’t really caught on to the game plan. In hindsight, I should have just stuck a random back in her place as the team would have defended well enough, but it was her constant taking the ball up herself and not getting it to the players in wider positions that killed us and cost us turnovers.  I only blame myself for that as I should have done more to include the injured star in the development of the game plan and to have been more willing to sub her when it was apparent her inclusion was hurting us.

I love coaching at that level not because I can take advantage of other team’s poor preparation and low level of skill – in fact, now that I’m settled in a new job / city, I aim to help other school coaches in developing their abilities to teach their kids better rugby.  I find girls more receptive to new ideas and are quick to adopt them wholeheartedly.  Even at the university level, I’ve seen women latch onto unorthodox strategy meant to mask their weaknesses and boost their strengths.  I’ve found teenaged boys and men less receptive to new ideas.

I’ve even got more ideas I want to try.  When I go back to the youth level next season, I’m also going to try re-starting attack in open play more like they do in Rugby League – having a forward or two (or all!) act as dummy halves, passing to the scrum half standing close by (because most youth scrum halves can’t throw the long passes) to play to fly half a little wider out.  I feel my rationale is sound for all teams at this level.  With everyone now adopting the tight post / guard defence around the ruck and maul, there’s very little room for a fly half to operate at the length of most scrum halves passes.  With more defenders standing out, rucks are more easily won, allowing one forward to pop the ball out to a slightly-wider scrum half.  The All Blacks do this a fair bit when Piri Weepu is playing 9.

It’s easy to try unorthodox strategies and tactics like that in relatively inexperienced environments. I had the fly half of our team kick a high ball on the first play to see how good their full back was, opening the green light for kicks later if she was obviously weak / team tracked back poorly (though we were great with ball in hand so didn’t often have to use that tactic). I’d also challenge the girls to go for double hits quite regularly; first tackler low to stop forward momentum and the second high to steal the ball.  This was adopted knowing full well that girls tend not to get the ball wide quickly, but also accounting that many of ours weren’t strong individual tacklers.

These tactics can be employed at higher levels as well, with proper training and total buy-in from the players.  Girls can be prone to getting caught up in a static maul, giving a turnover because of poor initial body position in contact and lack of brute strength to ‘rip’ out of a double hit.  Ireland’s men’s team has been quite successful at this over the past year.  So much was the belief in their tactic that they even surprisingly took it to one of the best ‘wide’ teams in the game – Australia.  A conservative approach would have seen the Irish play more man-on-man and not risk putting two or three defenders on a single ball carrier, who’d be more likely than most teams to pass before contact into space.  Australia should have recovered at half time, but opted to kick away possession rather than simply pass before contact and Ireland scored a famous victory.  Australia suffered from the “rush state” that Rick Pitino talks about in the article – they panicked and clearly didn’t think their way out trouble.  It’s a great example of changing the ‘rules’ a bit at the highest level, having total commitment to a plan and playing to strengths.  Bringing in the rush / blitz defence from League is another that reminds me of the full-court press.  Not all can do it, not all want to because the risks can be higher than the rewards, but some – like Wasps and Wales – have won championships on it.

I think the key for any such strategy is the buy-in from the players, and possibly even basing it upon a perception – or myth, even! – that fuses the team together. The girls b-ball coaches in the article seemed to have all the girls on their side because of the respectful way they were treated.  They fully committed to the game plan and seemed to revel that they weren’t like a typical basketball team, being under-sized and under-skilled. Such was the case with the young ladies that I coached, most coming from working class and/or immigrant families, revelling in beating the city’s rich kid schools (I didn’t ever bring that up, but I knew it was on their minds). They also seemed to feel extra special after our first league win, realising that ‘no plays’ didn’t matter.  Having been a London Wasps fan for many years, it seems to be the same for them.  During their glory years, they possessed a unified team culture based upon the perception that they were the underdogs – especially where finances were concerned.  They won several domestic and European titles despite not being rich enough to buy big stars, and instead developed their youth and embraced other team’s misfits and rejects, together buying into a game plan which matched their strengths and masked their weaknesses.

Thinking of the teams I’ve coached over the last 14 years which have been most successful, it was that unified team culture that was the common factor in each.

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Lessons from Great Coaches: Rob Baxter and Exeter

I love learning about how other coaches manage their teams.  This is the second in what I intend to be a series of posts about what some exemplary coaches are doing across the globe, and what lessons we can take from them as amateur coaches.

Imagine yourself a professional level coach.  Now imagine yourself with no stars, no big names, and not even any veterans of pedigree.  Where do you think you’d be in the league standings?  How would you frame your season, having just been promoted two years ago, and what game plan would you use to counter teams richer in recognisable talent than yours?  Read anything about English Aviva Premiership side Exeter and their coach Rob Baxter and you’ll get a sense how just such a team not only survives the usual relegation merry-go-round, but with just one game left in the season is perched upon earning a top-4 playoff spot!

I recently read a wonderful article about them by Paul Ackford for The Telegraph.  It can be read here, and I highly recommend school and amateur club coaches to do so:  CLICK HERE

At our level, we cannot simply go out and buy a new team.  We have to work with what we’ve got, and if the players we have maybe aren’t as good on paper as those on other teams, then a coach has to remain focused on what the team values and goals are.  Exeter appear to be a club that not only has a clear focus of what they can achieve, but are realistically ambitious, play to their strengths, cover their limitations, and as a result have surprised quite a few teams this season.  Below, I will provide some excerpts that stood out to me and comment on what they mean to amateur coaches, proving that if pros can succeed despite not having the money or big name players, so can we.

“We don’t have players who can conjure something out of nothing. Because of that they have to work hard, and to do that they have to be fit and they have to be strong. They have to be able to deal with 80 minutes of flat-out rugby so we have to be hard on them in terms of conditioning and setting standards and the things that really matter.  So, in that sense, yes, I am a hard taskmaster. But if we lose, do I blame them? Never, provided we’ve given it a genuine go.”

I read elsewhere that Baxter’s is much like a boot camp as the players are obsessive about strength and conditioning and that they push each other to be the best at it.  I think that’s fantastic for elite level rugby – and might work for schools / clubs IF everyone is committed or that there will be no shunning of those who do not participate in the S&C stuff with as much passion as the others.  It’s important to remember that ours are NOT pros, and have school, work, and lives outside of rugby.  That said, I think the important part of Baxter’s statement that relates to all of us relates to ‘hard work.’  Hard work, to me, is more than being physically capable to be better than your opponents, but also to have superior mental drive and focus.  I’m sure we all know players who are incredibly fit or ‘built’ better than most, yet who often appear lazy or switched off on the field.  Some believe in their own hype, while others don’t have the passion to apply themselves consistently from kick-off to final whistle.  Conversely, I’m sure we all know others whose brains we wish we could transplant into those other players’ bodies!  A good coach will rein in these players and help them over-come the mental hurdles or foster positive traits in others by using the strong ones as examples for them to follow.

The second part is how to ensure you can get the best – and more – out of your players.  I think for school and club players, being a ‘hard taskmaster’ has to be realistically applied as you don’t want to alienate players for whom the sport isn’t a job.  Baxter refers to ‘setting standards’ and that’s just the key basic ingredient for promoting a positive and driven attitude within the team.  Even as a teenage player, I realised how I was best motivated before a game, and it wasn’t by being pushed or yelled at, or even by joining in the rah-rah generated by some players just before kick-off.  Instead, our coaches let us discover this on our own and I think managed each of us as individuals.  The coaches unified us, though, by reminding us that we were a team and had to work together on the field – and work hard at that.  I’ve been adamant in recent years that it’s the team that works the hardest – especially off the ball – that will have the best chance of realising success.  Exeter have proven it this season, earning 12 wins and among the highest number of losing bonus points.  They’ve proved that they’re willing to grind out victories despite having no stars and that if they’re going down to a team blessed with ‘stars,’ they won’t go without a fight.  That’s the message I take from their season and Baxter’s leadership.  Whether physically or mentally (and more so the latter, for me), your entire team has to be focused on a common goal(s) and must put in the work required to realise those goals with maximum effort and commitment.

Baxter expands on creating a unified focus and positive culture by addressing team chemistry:

“I like my players,” Baxter said at one point in the conversation, a sentiment I’d never heard a coach of any kind articulate before. What would make you not like them was the obvious response?

“If they lost the understanding of what it is to be a good member of a team … I like to see the guys walk in with a smile on their face and start talking about what they did over the weekend.

I like to see that they’re interested in being together and that they will go out onto the rugby pitch and start kicking a football around and having a laugh.”

How, then, would he set about integrating the mavericks? “Maybe you don’t bring them in. You have to make some tough choices. If I met someone who I felt wouldn’t fit in, no matter how good a player he was, I’d go off him pretty quickly.”

For me, this is probably true for any successful team – and I mean ‘successful’ in relation to how well a team should realistically perform, given the talent available.  It only takes one dissenting voice to ruin that chemistry.  Successful teams need a collective focus to implement a game plan and the frame of mind to be there for your team mate physically and verbally.  Rugby is a sport that requires support and unanimity because of the amount of players on the pitch and the non-stop nature of the game.  Thinking back to some of the unsuccessful teams I’ve worked with, the lack of chemistry between players was the common factor.  In retrospect, I and the other coaches should have done more to put out the fires of dissent, bring those players on our side, or have the courage to cut them loose (either from the team, or at least from a starting position, with a clear explanation as to why, and giving them a chance to reform).  I can think of one case when we did and that person elected to leave, and things got better from that point.  It’s regretful to get to that point, but even when it’s not about winning (not like it ever is with me!), but about everyone else enjoying themselves, we all have to take a hard look at our prime reason for playing sport.

The two following statements exemplify what building a positive team culture is all about:

“We talk a lot about enjoying what we do, enjoying the big games and the big moments and how that brings the best out of us.”

As I often say, if we’re not enjoying ourselves, then what are we doing here?  At the simplest level – and, really, at the forefront of our motivation – we participate in sport because we like it.  As I’ve discussed in other posts, winning / losing is largely out of your control.  Setting yourselves realistic and achievable – yet challenging – goals is how any team in any sport should measure success.  Realising these goals – not to mention being outside, getting exercise and with good mates – contributes to enjoying one’s rugby.  Good coaches need to help the team establish and remain focused on these goals, and constantly look to enforce or even re-adjust as appropriate.

It would appear that Baxter and co. do this a lot, as they are always willing to go back to the drawing board.  After a loss where the team felt they hadn’t put forth their best effort:

“We sat down as a group … and said that we would go after games. We made the switch to becoming more ambitious, seeing what we could achieve rather than worrying that we could get relegated and that this could get taken away from us.”

Motivation can be largely internal for each individual, but it’s up to the coach to foster and support the techniques players use to keep themselves motivated and alert for matches and grounded after setbacks occur.  Positivity is key; and it’s especially necessary when dealing with losses, setbacks or failure to perform to the level one might wish.  With so many close losses, I would assume Exeter treats those almost as they would wins.  The league points one can achieve even in a loss – for losing by 7 or less, or for scoring 4 or more tries – are becoming common even in our amateur leagues and are great targets to set if history with a certain team has everyone thinking a loss is on the cards.  Many times, heaping such pressure on the ‘better’ team can cause them to lose focus and have led to many an upset.  I haven’t followed closely Exeter’s matches this season, but I’m willing to bet that many of their wins have come simply because of that.  Pressure on teams that took them lightly.  A unified desire to work harder in attack and especially in defence.  A positive and ambitious outlook on games, keeping grounded within one’s potential to succeed.

Sounds like great lessons for any team!

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Sunday Session #3: Attack Review and Scanning for / Recognising Opportunities

This week we’ll try and put together what we’ve learned the last few weeks.  The objectives for each session are noted in the practice plan below, but simply put, I want the players to:

• Develop their positional sense as it relates to creating opportunities in attack (i.e. width, depth, as relates to timing)
• Preserve space where it exists and create it where it doesn’t
• Understand how defenders react to alignment / sudden attacking moves to better support the ball carrier / transfer the ball to players in better position to breach the line as the move unfolds

In each of the drills, I will try and let the pre-drill prep be the guidelines the players follow and use themselves to analyse how well they’re doing.  As noted in the plan, I want the players to stay with the same group the whole session (pref. people who play alongside each other on the field – tight five, back row, inside backs, outside backs, etc.).  It is hoped that they will not only gain a better sense of each other’s abilities and develop cohesion within their units, but also take the opportunity between cycles to analyse their own progress, or that of others, to apply that feedback to their own knowledge.

I don’t expect my suggested communication to come right away, but I hope the players will begin to take on short and common phrases to insure information is passed and processed quickly.

Sunday Session #3

Attack Review and Scanning for / Recognising Opportunities

TIME	OBJECTIVE / ELEMENTS	ACTIVITIES
0-10 Mins	Arrival	Partner / Tri / Square Passing Grip ‘Snap’ out Follow through to target ‘Spiderman’ or ‘Turn the knob’ 10 push, 10 spin (perfect)
10-15 mins	Passing in Lines Quality! Transfer in one step Targets up, Follow through to target	Passing in Lines … 3s or 4s Start from the ground, SH follows Dynamic Recovery (half and jog back) Straight Leg Walk (on toes opp.) High Knee Pull (on toes opp.) Fence Climbers Lunge Walk w. twist Pick Grass Inch Worm
	Session Objectives	Review … AnglesTwo-Man Moves Supporting Moves (excuse self to get water) Two Truths: 1. To every action, there should be a predictable reaction from the defence that provides opportunities. 2. Where there is no / a slow reaction, you have an even greater advantage. Learn to scan for and recognise opportunities.
15-25 mins	Angles Reivew … Enough width Fix defender Sudden angle Timing of the pass	5 mins Unders / 5 mins OversSH Cycle Drill… versus real defenders. Set, 2. Call for the ball, 3. Execute, 4. Turn and watch. 5. Play defence.
25-30 mins	Fitness Blast 1(1 min each)	Station 1: Side StepsStation 2: SwervesStation 3: Slides (Fwd / Bck) Station 4: Backwards Running / Backpedal
30-35 mins	Reactions to Moves	A well executed move will either allow you get through the defence, or manipulate it enough to provide opportunities for other players.Slo mo demos …… how does width, depth, timing affect?
35-50 mins	Create Space, Support	Teams of 5 v 3 good defenders.FILM! Defenders will have bags, passing from contact will be allowed, but stopping forward momentum ends turn.  In such a situation, a ‘successful’ end to the drill requires someone to help the ball carrier and secure the ball as if a ruck / maul were being formed.  WE DO NOT LEAVE BALL CARRIERS ALONE IN CONTACT!
50-55 mins	Fitness Blast 2(30 sec, 30 sec)	Station 1: Tuck JumpsStation 2: Mountain ClimbersStation 3: Burpees Station 4: Body Squats
65-70 mins	Scanning and Recognising Opportunities	You will never see perfect defence throughout an entire game … watch for: * Player Alignment – inside / outside / hips (ruck inspecting!) * Defenders not ready – hands on knees, leaning back on heels, standing upright… * Dog Leg / Shooter – ‘attack shoulders’, commit and find the new space (Following are other visual cues, but won’t be focused on… ) * Weak / Slow Player – expose or draw help * Line Alignment – wide / narrow / staggered / flat * Recognisable actions – i.e. head down = kick? * Style of Defence
70-85 mins	Recognise and Capitalise on OpportunitiesComm:“See ______” (pass to me) “Go ______!” (hold it and run, w. name) “Wide” / “Tight”   (angled run away from / toward passer) “Loop” / “Switch” / “Back inside” / “Miss Me”	Attackers start blind, turn and someone must recognise and communicate opportunity in a 5 v 3 situation. FILM!
85-90 mins	Debrief	Watch film, next week will be dynamic skill situations and Touch?

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Lessons from Great Coaches: Stuart Lancaster 1

Interim England coach Stuart Lancaster has his first Test – both in name and practice – this weekend against the Aulde Enemy, Scotland (or is England their aulde enemy? … yeah, that … anyway).  I think I’ve mentioned that I was a fan of England during the Woodward era, but not as impressed with his successors Andy Robinson and especially Martin Johnson – a man who’d had very little experience as a coach.  I’ve read a couple of articles about Lancaster and wanted to share the best bits as it sounds like – despite the temporary status of his role at present – he’s got the goods to lead them to a 6 Nations victory.  Here are the most relevant bits to coaches, starting with how he still helps coach under-11s – as an assistant! – at his local club:

He puts the eager youngsters through their paces in an atmosphere striking in its calm, its purpose and its discipline. His instructions are clear and quickly understood. The more sophisticated tactical ideas are communicated with clarity. In short, he is a man who appears entirely comfortable facilitating training.

 “I once walked in on one of his half-time team talks,” says Shaun Robins, the father of one of the under-11s. “He was asking them what they did well and seeking their suggestions about how they might improve. It was incredibly inclusive. And the thing was: they all were engaged and listening.”

 It augurs well for when he takes charge of the England squad for the first time this week. Given the way they behaved during the World Cup, it is not a bad idea to know how to handle a bunch of schoolboys.

 “Actually, I wouldn’t want people to think I’d treat elite players like kids,” Lancaster says. “But I guess whether it’s under-11s or England the principles are the same.

“I’d like to think I will communicate the same sense of enthusiasm and positivity. And I think that rubs off on players. The best coaches I’ve seen have a broad range of emotions, from upbeat and positive to being prepared to upbraid those who don’t give 100 per cent. Most of all, you shape behaviour by the environment you create.”

“What will ultimately lead to a winning side is the culture,” he says. “That willingness to be selfless, to be part of a group willing to work hard for each other, to be humble, not to be arrogant, to respect each other and every one else, to accept the responsibility of being an England player: those values will lead to a winning England.”

“That’s the same with these under-11s,” he says. “You have to establish guidelines. I’ll give you an example: when the kids have water it is a non-negotiable rule that they put the drinks bottle back in the rack rather than just chuck them on the ground.

 “Trivial, you may say. But it’s not. It is a demonstration of a respect for equipment and more importantly respect for your team-mate. You do not want him drinking from a dirty bottle.”

Lancaster says that what worried him most about the RFU inquiry into the World Cup was the unattributed observation from a player that there was a fashion in the squad of not trying too hard at training.

 “I’ll tell you this,” he says. “If anyone thinks it’s not cool to try, they won’t be playing for England under me. The most powerful tool I have is selection.

 “Players can try and hide what they think for a while, but ultimately you’ll see it in their actions. Those that want to be the best will be on the journey. Those that don’t won’t.

 “There are hundreds of players who want to play for England. Talent is one thing, character is another. Talent gets you there. Character keeps you there.”

From:  White, Jim.  “Why Stuart Lancaster’s England squad needs Yorkshire roots.” Daily Telegraph, 9 Jan., 2012.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/9001327/Why-Lancasters-England-need-Yorkshire-roots.html

For me, building  an inclusive, positive, and challenging team culture is the foundation of a successful team.  And when I say ‘successful’, I don’t even mean winning, because results are largely out of our control.  ‘Success’ refers to achieving, and where possible, exceeding realistic but challenging goals we set for ourselves as coaches and players, both for the team and individually.  ‘Character’ is the essential component, I feel, to achieve success.  More than just having the proper spirit to embrace being part of a team, both players and coaches need to recognise the difference between arrogance and confidence, to show respect for each other and opponents, to show determination and resilience, and to be open to learn and to share constructive thoughts.

I think the way in which you help foster this positive culture is largely up to you.  I base all that I do on a set of values that I deem most important to me as a coach and that will provide the players in my charge with an enjoyable and enriching environment.  I make these known to the players and share my personal objectives for the year.  I then invite players to share their own goals and have a team meeting to formulate their performance and dream goals for the season.  I don’t think any one way is better than the rest, but I do believe that your style needs to be relayed so the players know what to expect and that building and maintaining a positive culture needs to be a TOTAL effort by everyone involved with the team.

Lancaster appears to be one of those types, and it should set up this young and potentially exciting England squad for a good run.  Here are some of his own words on how he establishes himself with his team and a glowing review from a former pupil of his, who credits Lancaster’s tutelage for making him the player he now is.  As Vickerman suggests, a good coach such as Stuart Lancaster knows his/her players and genuinely cares about fostering their development.

Rob Vickerman (Coached by Lancaster at Leeds, now England rugby Sevens player)

?He is one of the most influential people in my rugby career, particularly when I was 15 or 16 at  Yorkshire schoolboys. As a coach he is a perfect mix in that he is  analytical but he is also a disciplinarian. He’ll have fun with you but he also lives by his beliefs as a coach and it rubs off on his players. In times when the team are not performing well, he is capable of understanding players individually. He knew what I was thinking if I’d played poorly and knew how to motivate me. You know if you’re working hard you’re going to earn his praise, and he’ll never cut  corners or make excuses. He’s talked a lot about a new  culture with England and I can  certainly identify with that. We took a hammering from the A team at Leeds and he came in for training, took us out on to the pitches and announced: ‘We’re going to play a little game called “Follow the Leader”.’ It involved running for about four miles but he was at the front the entire time. That’s what he is about, always willing to do it himself. If your director of rugby behaves like that  it breeds enormous respect for the shirt.”

Lancaster on… Coaching

“I feel I know how to build teams. Not having had a playing background of the highest level, you have to earn credibility in a different way as a coach. You have to put on good sessions, be a good manager of people and try to inspire and motivate. I work hard in those areas. You educate players to appreciate the meaning of ‘elite’ “.

 From:  Benedict, Luke.  “From St. Bees U12 to England: The making of coach Lancaster.”  Daily Mail Online, 27 Jan. 2012.   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-2092852/Six-Nations-2012-Making-coach-Stuart-Lancaster.html

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World Cup and Rugby in 2012

My apologies to those of you who follow this blog for not making a post in several months!  I’m in the final states of completing a Masters degree and didn’t make much time for blogging in between school work and lots of cycling.  It’s a new year and I’m in a new location, with a new club, so in the spirit of ‘newness’ will be posting – hopefully many – new articles over the coming weeks as we start indoor training.

I want to kick off 2012 with something that would have been more timely posted in October – my thoughts on the Rugby World Cup.  Despite the time lapse, however, I think the following things which struck me can be lessons on how I’ll approach coaching in the new year – affirming some of my beliefs and giving me new things to think about.

1. New Zealand

I hope some of the bitter sorts who think New Zealand’s win was undeserved, and who unfairly lobbed a lot of criticism at the referee, have had a chance to cool down as I believe they were truly justified as winners.  Not only because they had the players – and back-up players! – to do the job, but because their preparation for the tournament is what – in my opinion – got them there.  I’ve just recently finished reading Clive Woodward’s book, Winning!, on how they won the 2003 Rugby World Cup.  In it, he outlines all the structures put in place in order to instil both a winning culture within the minds of ALL people involved with the team, from coaches, to staff, to players, to the wider training group who didn’t make the cut.  He also underlines the importance of infrastructure in supporting everyone’s needs.  I’ll talk more about this later when I synthesise my notes on the book, but it appeared to me that Graham Henry followed that same sort of mentality.  Clive talks about surrounding himself with the best staff and players and developing a culture of winning, and that is something that was obvious within the All Blacks over the last two years or so.  Assistants Hansen and Smith are top notch, and they all seemed to contribute, even switching roles at one stage.  That, to me, shows a team that is truly functioning within.  They also have maintained pretty much the same core of players for the last few years.  Others have been tried and those players put pressure on the incumbents to do better.  Those who earned their place – like Piri Weepu – were rewarded, though there was immense faith placed in the old guard – like Ali Williams, only recently having come back from his Achilles injuries.  Like England was between 2001-2003, New Zealand have been virtually unstoppable over the last two years, and any bumps along the way only served to teach them lessons and make them stronger.  (Anyone who remembers how they exited RWC 2007 and survived the 2011 final, with many of the same players, can see how they grew.)  The lesson here is that team culture, coaching structure, and total club buy-in is immensely important, and I believe can even elevate teams beyond those who are arguably better on paper. 

2. Half Backs

I’ll write more on this later, but the play of Piri Weepu and Kahn Fotuali’i in particular impressed me as they often played what one pundit called the 9 1/2 position – doing the work of scrum half, but also often finding themselves in the ‘stand off’ position.  What this allowed the All Blacks and Samoans was to have more width, get away from the condensed defence around the rucks, and get their most creative players in more space with more strike options around him.  I’m convinced this comes from Rugby League, which I know Weepu played at school, and assume Fotuali’i has as well.   In that sport, the hooker does most of the passing from the play-the-ball (oddly enough, he wears 9 – coincidental?) and the half back and 5/8 play in wider, often inter-changeable, positions.  More on that in a forthcoming post …

If you want examples of great traditional half back play, however, watch BOTH Japanese 9s (Fumiaki Tanaka and Atsushi Hiwasa), and their partnership with fly half James Arlidge.  To me, they were the best in the tournament – ever-present at the break down, and with speedy, accurate passes.  Some teams, like England and Australia, have great 9s who can make little darting runs, but they were rarely effective doing so as international-level defences are incredibly focused around the ruck.  When they did, it also left a ‘slow ball’ situation at the next break down because their passer was trapped at the bottom of it.  When I talk about the “9 1/2”, I’ll examine how such a team needs forwards to be decision makers and/or passers to make up for that.  The Japanese, however, were always on-hand to make the pass and did so without delay, hitting their forwards on the run, rather than relying on the static pod system a lot of other teams use.  This not only accounted for their relative lack of size, but also kept defences from getting organised, providing Japan with a lot of ‘go-forward’ ball and opportunities to make things happen.  I’ll definitely be focusing on this in the new year, and maybe a combo of both styles if the team is receptive to having the forwards pass more and, essentially, playing with two decision makers in attack.

3. Game Changers

I made a note to discuss ‘game changers’ months ago because CBC radio was doing a series on people who did just that around the time of the Rugby World Cup.  I made a note to discuss both the South Africa / Samoa game and the Ireland / Australia shocker.  Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten much of the specific details of both games, but do remember the important parts.  Simply put, both Samoa and Australia went into half time with a major hurdle to over-come.  Samoa were down 0-13, but were playing well and – as they often do – were intimidating in the loose and had weapons all over the park, in both the forwards and the backs.  Australia were definitely the better team on paper, but the Irish are a clinical and powerful side and were bullying the Aussies, who are more open field flair and less about playing the gritty tight game.  Both teams emerged from the changing rooms at half time with contrasting mentalities from each other.  I’m not sure how much of it was down to coaching decision / in-decision or by the players themselves deciding to step it up / not, but Samoa came out firing and won the second half 5-0, while Australia kept doing the same old thing and ended up scoring no points.  Both teams lost, but one would have expected that from Samoa – who could have won the game, while Australia should have beat the Irish.  The difference was, I think, in the decision to make a tactical change / affirmation / clarification at half on the part of the Samoans.  They identified their strengths versus the areas the South Africans were looking weak (from memory, I think it was the midfield – in particular, they used a simple loop to beat the Fourie’s blitz, and slipped inside him for their try).  They matched their muscle and kept the South Africans on the back foot and denied them possession.  Conversely, again from memory, the Australians kicked away a lot of their possession and continued to try and muscle up to the Irish, getting bullied in the process via their rugby league style defence.  I’m a huge fan of Aussie rugby, and kept wondering why they weren’t trying to play the game wider as a few forays into that territory yielded in positive results – but then they’d go back to kicking away the ball and trying to do slow drives in tight with outmatched forwards.  The lesson is to be analytical during the first half and not to be afraid to make a big change of strategy, tactics, or personnel at half to capitalise on anything learned.

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Top Tips for Running Drills

The difference between un- and effective drills, in my opinion, is not in how good the drill is but how well it suits the needs of your players and how well it is managed.  Here are some lessons I’ve learned over the years that ensure I have the players’ interests at the forefront.

1. Provide two or three objectives that should be the focus of the drill. Beginners benefit from a few simple ones, while veterans can still be confused by too many. Where teams have a mixture of experience, give the veterans different, more advanced, objectives to work on.
2. Address different learning styles: explain technique and drills clearly, point out key aspects in a slow demonstration, and invite kinaesthetic learners to be in that demo group. For complicated open drills and dynamic scenarios, let everyone run through it a couple of times and check understanding before increasing intensity. Ask and field questions. It’ll take time, but save time in the long run.
3. Balance correction and intensity. Often, specific technical aspects – such as passing – should involve low intensity and much room for correction. Conversely, developing unit skills should be done with moderate to high intensity and with not as much correctly. Team play often involves very little, if any, coach input as team leaders should be given the opportunity to assess and learn from their own actions.
4. Planned progression can enhance learning and understanding. For example, if you want to work on your back line’s ability to work together in breaching a flat defence, you can start with passing drills to focus on quality, 2 v 1s to work on timing, 3 v 2s to practice unit skills, alignment, timing and communication and then finish off with a full 7 v however many defenders you want. This can take up a large chunk of your practice time, but the links between technique, skill, and game sense are made more clear and players should be able to move from being told what to do, to thinking for themselves and self-correction in a shorter period of time.
5. There is no shame in going back a step or scrapping a plan altogether. We learn from mistakes, but few of us learn from frustration. If something’s not working, don’t be afraid to admit it and go back a step. Players will respect you more and appreciate the opportunity to realise success before trying to climb the mountain again. It’s always a good idea to leave a “skill” area set up off to the side of a dynamic scenario – if the 7 v 5 game isn’t working for one or two specific reasons, take five minutes to re-focus on those areas, and then get back to the game.

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Half Time Chat and Re-Focus

“It was a game of two halves” is one of the great sporting clichés, indicating that a match was going in one direction until the interval and then was very different in the second stanza. Often, this term is used quite liberally reflecting only a relative measure of what really took place. Rarely do I – not someone who watches a lot of sport on TV, apart from a rugby game or two a week – see this statement manifested entirely as the statement suggests. A couple of weeks ago I saw it, during the Heineken Cup Final between Northampton and Leinster, and it not only shocked me, but got me thinking about what we say to our team at the half, when we’ve got just a few minutes to either right the wayward ship or ensure that we keep it on course until the final whistle.

In short, if you didn’t see it, Northampton came out flying – against everyone’s predictions – and utterly dominated the Irish province. At one point, they even won a ball against the scrum when they had one less man in the pack! At halftime, with Northampton leading 22-6 (three tries to none) I thought, “That’s it. They’ve got Leinster’s number and just have to maintain this style of play [realising it’d be near impossible to keep up the tempo] until the final whistle.” Oh how I was wrong. Leinster started the second half much the same way Northampton did and scored early. Leinster never let up, preventing Northampton any chances to add to their tally and eventually ran home 33-22.

So what happened to both teams in the changing rooms at half time? I don’t know that answer, apart from saying: “It wasn’t enough” (for Northampton) or “It was bloody good” (for Leinster). Given the fact that Northampton offered nothing in the second half, and looked like a completely different team, I think it was more than just Leinster proving the pundits right and finally playing to their potential. But what does one say to a team at the half, regardless of the score, conditions, form book, etc. etc.? In what can be a ‘too short’ period, what sort of information needs to be gathered and what needs to be relayed?

Here’s what I do:

[Throughout the first half] Keep notes on what I think our strengths and weaknesses are, as well as any of theirs I have spotted. I try and have three very specific things to say, to keep confusion down to a minimum but also to ensure there is focus for the next half.

[As everyone gathers] Have players grab a drink bottle and get their attention. Ask how everyone’s feeling, and if there are any injuries / physical concerns I need to know about. (Refer to trainer, but keep them in the huddle if at all possible if there are any.)

[Team talk] Focus on strengths, threats, and opportunities; that is: the things we have done well, the things we need to be concerned about, and the things we need to focus on for the second half. I try as best I can to keep this information short and to the point – listing it as if I were typing bullet points. I don’t want players to be confused, don’t want to send mixed messages, and also don’t want to waste time.

[Feedback from the team] With adult teams I tend to invite important, specific feedback as to what’s going on out there, regarding both our performance and theirs. The understanding beforehand, however, is that it has to be concrete, relevant information and not just empty statements such as “we can do this” or “this is our game”, etc. This can take a bit of coaching, especially as I want all comments from players (as I do!) to be both positive and constructive, focusing not on generalities but on specifics. So it’s not good enough to say, “We need to make our tackles” but such a statement should instead sound like: “We need to take a step closer to the ball carrier and tackle, first, with our shoulders and then wrap up.” In such cases, focusing on the technique is a better way of making that key information stick inside their minds – especially with the time constraints. With kids, I do most of the talking, allowing maybe the team leaders to speak up if I trust their judgement and/or if there’s a particular leader whose insight I trust.  The point is, as I strive to be to-the-point with the information I relay, I do not want players to ruin that focus with a lot of empty chatter that can cause them to forget the important points.

[Individual feedback] Getting to this point can take half the time, or most if the ref is only giving us five minutes (for sevens, it’s basically just: “Is everyone okay? Here are the strengths, threats and opportunities” and we’re back on the pitch!). But I like to give the chance to assistant coaches to chat with their respective units, again dropping only short, specific and positive bits of information, and/or units to talk amongst themselves in such a way.

[Wrap-up and re-focus] If you’ve had a full ten minutes, I like to start this with about two minutes to go. I just want to re-iterate the important STOs (strengths, threats, opportunities) again so the team can take the pitch with those in mind. For some players, that will be enough – technical / tactical focus points for them to maintain throughout the second half. Many players, however, need an emotional / adrenaline charge to fire them up. I think it’s important to note, however, that not all players like this, so I don’t make a big deal about having everyone in the huddle. When I played, I preferred not to get ‘pumped up’, instead wishing to remain calm and focused. I’d still have a hand on the huddle to show solidarity, but would be nowhere near the middle of the huddle.

[Final minute or so] This is where I let the players do what they need to do to get ready for the second half. A moment alone, a little run, some one v one scrums, a few bag hits, etc. as they make their way to the field. Hopefully everything we needed to maintain will carry on, and that which we needed to address will be seen to. Setting a tempo is very important and the final message from the captain to the players should be that the first 10 should be the most important, possibly of the entire match … and this is exactly how Leinster took hold of that HEC final and played the second half on their terms.

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