Dummy Half Passing

admin    General, Handling    

The ‘Ruck’ is the centre of the universe!

Well it is probably the most important area of the Rugby Pitch that is for sure! Everything starts around the ruck, floor work and marker work followed by ruck plays and dummy half passing. If your hooker gets this pass wrong then inverably you turn the ball over and end up defending another set.

The following drills give you a lot of variation on passing off the floor to targets at different distances.

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Controlling the touchline

admin    General    

“Spectators screaming at players and the referee achieves nothing.”

I have stood on the touchlines up and down the country watching games that I have been involved in and others that I have just gone along to watch and every game has one common factor, the touchline full of spectators screaming and shouting at both the players and the referee. Some of the comments that I have heard and reactions that I have seen have bordered on child abuse, not physical but mental which is regarded by some in the clinical profession as the worst form.

Swearing at the referee, abusing the coach or screaming at their own child it isn’t nice to watch and at times I have had to step in and inform the individual of how little their comments are helping the child to progress and develop. The majority of parents who drag themselves to training and games 3 or 4 times a week through the winter months do it because they are proud of what their child is doing and have a healthy interest in watching their child grow and develop.

Many of those parents will be embarrassed to be associated with the few individuals who constantly barrack the referee and players as will any coaches who are involved in the game for the right reason.

How then do we resolve the problem if indeed it can be resolved?

Constantly screaming and shouting at anyone, child or adult will not achieve the results that you want in fact there is a very good chance it will have the opposite effect. A child that is constantly shouted at for a poor pass or because they fail to catch a ball will start to worry about making that mistake again as invariably they know what will happen on the back of that mistake, what then if everyone just said NEVER MIND, YOU WILL CATCH IT NEXT TIME?Removing the pressure may just help the player as he isn’t worrying about the reaction he will get when the next mistake comes and of course it will.

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Does winning Matter?

admin    Free, General     coach, development, enjoyment, fun, learning, losing, preassure, skill, Tackle, try, Winning

Kids having fun playing Rugby League

When I started coaching I was 25 and started with a team at under 10s, everything that I did was about winning the game the following week. If that meant changing positions to put my biggest lad against the oppositions smallest then I would or if we could just barge through them up the middle then that became the game plan but the outlook was very short term, sure at under 10s and 11s we where winning games but does that really matter?

All those years ago I would have argued with anyone until I was blue in the face that winning mattered to both the kids and the parents and no one could have swayed me otherwise however over the last 5 years that outlook and those views have spun 360 degrees and as I prepare to take on my next team at under 10s I really couldn’t care if they don’t win another game for the next 3 years, let me try and explain why.

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The new RL Coaching site

admin    General    

Thank you for taking a look at our new and improved Rugby League Coaching site for 2009. The site is aimed mainly at the amatuer coach volunteering at the community clubs all over the world. Experienced coaches or those that have been coaching for a while will also benefit even if it is to jog their mind and remind them of some of the things that they have used in the past as we all have used a drill and then over time stopped using it as much until it has become forgotten.

The site dives into all areas of coaching Rugby League like core skills, attack, defence, patterns of play, psychology, fitness, nutrition and absolutely everything inbetween.

The site has been redesigned from the ground up on a WordPress platform which makes it much easier to add content meaning it should come to you thicker and faster but it also allows you all to join in and discuss all the different drills and techniques that are posted.

Try it now, leave a comment to this post and let us know your first impressions of the site.