Being a coach is without a doubt one of the hardest but potentially also one of the most rewarding jobs. Looking at the pressure the S15 and national coaches has to endure I have often found myself wondering who on earth would want to be a coach. Sort of; “not for all the money in the world would I want to be a coach”.
End of last year I found myself at a point of not having a choice anymore. I had enough with the quality of the coaching my oldest had to endure for the last three seasons and put myself forward to do the coaching.
I had no previous coaching experience but rugby being a passion I went at it with zest. The U/11 enrolments this year for the club just 20 and with it being the first year they play 15 a side our group didn’t pan out to be very strong. In New Zealand the Maori boys have a big growth advantage. They are bigger at the young ages, faster, stronger and better ball players. We ended up with none of these natural talented athletes in our group and I had to mold this bunch of skinny white kids into a team.
Previous years the main problem was lack of rucking skill and no commitment at the rucks. So that had to be sorted and quickly. We (the assistant coaches and me) started creating a number of rucking drills which all worked towards small sided games involving mostly rucking and blow-over ability. I bought some click tellers and had parents keep score of consecutive rucks and turnovers in these games to shift the attention away from trying to score individualistic tries towards teamwork at the rucks.
Week after week (only one session per week though) we went at it first getting them to drive the ball up and protect it. Then drive it up and knuckle it to the ground. Knuckle to the ground essentially meaning pushing the ball away from your body on the ground once you hit the deck. Next step was to get the supporting runners to blow-over. At this stage the small sided games was a bit of a mess with the boys either over committing (every one rushing in with nobody left to pick the ball up) or under committing (everyone waiting for the ball to come back).
Adjustments were made to the drills so that the boys now starting to work in groups of 4 namely first one drive it up, rip it and knuckle it, next one blow over, next one pick up and swing to the runner taking the ball up. Back to the starting line-up with everyone now moving one up in the order. Back to the games. Teams now get points for having a receiving runner in place and for every time they move the ball through three set of hands.
Last week before the first game we began working on line-outs, scrums and backline passing. At this age group the boys still don’t compete in the scrums so we could hide some of the real tiny fellows in the scrum but not all of them because the rucking is extremely competitive. No lifting in the line-outs but jumping and driving-up on attack and defense are on.
Way too soon to our liking the first match arrive and the opponents being one of the stronger clubs with a large number of natural athletes in their team. We are talking rucking or more specifically about body position, blow-over and commitment at the rucks before the game. We had the backline learning to straighten up and with No12 taking the ball up and 13 blowing-over with the next arriving player spinning the ball. So much more we want to do but the game is on us.
It is with much fear that we line-up Saturday morning. We took the boys through the drills. I had a team talk warning them that lack of commitment, aggression and low body positions are going to see them annihilated by the big boys in the other team. The seriousness set in the young faces; we group hug and on we went.
We coaches are almost too fearful to look at each other. They kick off. One of our littlest fellows catch and went straight at the opponents; dip and drive up just as taught protecting the ball as he go in. Under a blanket the pack drive-up and blow over. Phase after phase we string in until the ball went astray. Scrum. Sjoe! All three of us coaches breath-out a sigh of relief. That was not to bad; hope it was not a fluke. Their scrumball; out it comes; our defense are right up and the ball carrier get forced back in the tackle. Under a blanket the pack drives over again. Out comes the ball; thought the hands; 12 straighten up, swing to 13 angling away. In a flash, No.15 whips in between the two centers -just like we practiced- straight through; score under the post.
Suddenly I understood why coaches coach. The pride brings tears to my eyes. Wow! What a feeling!!
Soon afterwards one of the big fellows in the opposing team gets the ball and charged through for a try. I ran up behind the posts. The message don’t allow the big fellows to built-up speed. Hit them went they get the ball.
But the best is still to come. Soon afterwards we string in 13 phases in a row. In almost perfect fashion the players set the ball up as they charge into contact; the supporting players blowing-over at speed and the backline take the ball up at speed, set it up with the loosies blowing-over. On it went phase after phase until we score. What a try! How do you describe the pride?
By the end of first half the boys are starting to run out of puff but we hang in and in spite of another break away try we go into half time leading 12-10. Parents came running up with the click teller scores on breakdowns; 25 for us 9 for them. A comprehensive victory at the breakdowns but I can see the boys are puffed-out and we don’t have enough subs -with 4 players sick or away- to keep it up.
Second half is agony. We just can’t keep it up. The boys are getting slower to the breakdowns but show heart. Conner the smallest in the team make a huge tackle driving right through and over one of the Maori athletes trying to Sonny Bill Williams with an offload. The boys hang in. We get close to scoring on two occasions but the supporting legs are turning to jelly.
McLook junior is tackling like a demon. He makes another big hit on one of the monsters in the opposing team -on the charge- but he stays down. A fathers and coaches agony and pride all in the same mix. He gets up but can’t walk; foot at a funny angle. Out a breath from the run across the field I determine it was a huge knock on the vastus mediales. The knee and ankle still intact; what a relief!
But the game goes on. I get one player to feint injury and while handing out the water bottle talk the team up and re-affirm the need for keeping the ball and slowing the game down. It’s too much info, too soon in the season at this young age.
Another one of our big tacklers stay down and had to leave the field and we hang in but we know it is just a matter of time.
Five minutes left on the clock before our defensive line-up finally break and they score. Soon thereafter another try against us. Oh a coaches agony.
We lost but I felt like I want to burst with pride. The breakdown count 12/9 against us in the second half bringing the final or overall breakdown score to 34/21 in our favor. That’s my message to the team. Boys we were the best team on the field but the lesson of this match is if we don’t hang on to the ball the big boys are going to hurt us.
We now know we’re on the right track and as the fitness improves the score line will soon start to reflect the breakdown score.
A Maori -father of one of the athletes in the other team- wants to talk to me. “You the coach”, he asks? Yes. “This here is my son I want him to play for your team.” I remember seeing him listening in while I was giving my team instructions behind the poles. “Why?” “Why do you want to bring him over”, I ask?
Straight to the point he went like the Maori tend to do. “They play proper rugby”, he says, pointing to my players.
I walk away sad about the loss but feeling mostly pride. What a job being a coach? I’ll do it any day, I thought, free of charge.
53 comments to A Coaches’ pride and agony
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Loosehead
May 10th, 2011 at 6:56 AMThe Lions coaching position will be available pretty soon with a huge pay packet.
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Scrumdown
May 10th, 2011 at 8:49 AMMcLook, If you think it’s difficult to keep back the tears now, wait until end of season “awards evening”.I know what you’re going through, but my experience was with a senior club that had NEVER won a trophy / competition.
Imagine when we won the U/19 and U/21 competitions in our JHB league as well as topping both logs after the round robin.
Keep it up. As your team plays others, and the style of Rugby gets more known, more of the “big” kids will want to join your team, and you’ll take the team from strength to strength.
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Ashley
May 10th, 2011 at 9:31 AMmclook
well congrats may then be in order, i think
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just another thing ….
“McLook junior is tackling like a demon. He makes another big hit on one of the monsters in the opposing team -on the charge-” ….
hmmmm, being a father 1st of all, i’m not quite sure how accurate the above assessment was!
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McLook
May 10th, 2011 at 9:51 AM@ Loosehead@1:I think scrumdown (see @2) would be a better candidate. -
superBul
May 10th, 2011 at 9:56 AMWell done McLook, i saw the game in my mind as you describe it. Congrats, keep it up. Keep us posted. This makes R-T so special. -
McLook
May 10th, 2011 at 9:57 AMScrumdown@2 wrote:McLook, If you think it’s difficult to keep back the tears now, wait until end of season “awards evening”.
Not sure if we’ll get that far (in terms of such splendid results as you got) but one sure goes through a lot of emotional turmoil before, during and after the match. I’ve decided to emotionally detach from results and focus entirely on execution and development of players. One still feel the agony when the team loose because no matter what spin you put on it the game is played in the final analysis to be won.
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McLook
May 10th, 2011 at 10:09 AMAshley@3 wrote:being a father 1st of all, i’m not quite sure how accurate the above assessment was!
Fair question, mate. My dad always used to say: “Every father thinks his donkey is race horse (thorough bred).”
Fact is the little guy did play his heart out and the opposing team only scored their last two tries after he came of. But hey that is still just anecdotal evidence, at best. My purpose with this article was of course entirely to share the emotional turmoil of being a coach. In the final analysis it doesn’t matter at all what anybody reading this think about my coaching or my son’s rugby playing ability. I did however thought people would enjoy the divergent feelings of pride and agony one experiences as a coach during and after a match. -
Ashley
May 10th, 2011 at 10:26 AMmclook @ 7
was pulling your leg bru.
was a well written article btw -
McLook
May 10th, 2011 at 10:50 AM@ Ashley@8:
I know mate. No hard feelings. You being a father with a boy playing as well (think I saw something about that in previous posts)I knew exactly where you were coming from. -
Ashley
May 10th, 2011 at 10:59 AMmclook @ 9
yep i’ve got an 8 year old … but he’s not showing any interest in rugby at the moment (maybe its because i act like a lunatic and shout at the tv everytime i watch rugby)
..
(sigh) the boy’s more interested in that sport where everyone wears white and drink tea!!
(sigh) -
McLook
May 10th, 2011 at 11:09 AMAshley@10 wrote:sigh) the boy’s more interested in that sport where everyone wears white and drink tea!!
Hahahaha! You gave my quite a chuckle with that one. My youngest play that sport too. I’ll write something about his season sometime. I’ve joined-up with one of the other dad’s (which was a good cricket player) in his team and we’re doing some additional coaching on wednesday’s with the boys. in the hope that the boys will ahve some advantage when the next season starts. Fascinating sport you’re talking about, very technical but I am enjoying it.
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Scrumdown
May 10th, 2011 at 11:11 AM4@ McLook:
I’m no coach. Only ever “helped out” for a few weeks.The club members asked me to do an administrative role and elected me Chairman.
Basically I taught them to do everything as “professionally” as their abilities allowed, and to play to their strengths, which with a bunch of skinny, undernourished “coloured” kids, was speed of hand and fleet of foot. Don’t wrestle with a pack of forwards who weigh 20kg each more than you do, run around them and pass the ball away from them.
Once the thought process was changed (3 hard years) the results started coming.
I’ve been away from the club for 10 months now and I am disappointed with what’s happened since, but you can’t spoon feed people for ever and a day. (No I don’t mean the Lions!)
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Scrumdown
May 10th, 2011 at 11:14 AM@ Ashley:
You’r e lucky. My stepson is 14 years old, 1,84m tall, wears a size 11 shoe, and doesn’t play Rugby.Wants to start playing Basketball. School is putting him under pressure though, but I have reservations.
Rugby’s not in his blood, and that counts for a lot IMO.
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Ashley
May 10th, 2011 at 11:54 AMscrumdown @ 13
jeez, what do you feed him? -
Ashley
May 10th, 2011 at 11:57 AMmclook @ 12
i’ll have to take your word for it (that cricket’s a very technical sport)
(whisper) i dont even understand all the fielding positions, lol -
Scrumdown
May 10th, 2011 at 11:57 AM14@ Ashley:
As little as possible until he decides to knuckle down with school work.Seriously though, he’s just a tall kid. Was tall and skinny but filling out nicely now.
Not sure he’ll aver make a decent lock though. Worries about his hair too much!
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Ashley
May 10th, 2011 at 12:04 PMscrumdown @ 16
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Scrumdown
May 10th, 2011 at 12:17 PM16@ Scrumdown:
And as much ball sense as a Lions flyhalf! -
Morné
May 10th, 2011 at 12:34 PM#%^*@#$ hell mate, this was one of the best pieces of writing I have seen in many years.I had a mountain of memories of my own flooding back in an instant and the emotions, trials and tribulations I went through at the time when I still did what you did.
If I can humbly offer you one piece of advice; NEVER try and justify or find a reason for what you do, it will kill you and the obvious passion you have for what you do. Just know that you do it, and you love doing it.
You are not just coaching mate, you are shaping the futures of young men and your drive and dedication is what will form the base for these youngsters to go out into the world. You are preparing young, impressionable minds, for life, equip them with the best tools possible and from what I read, you sure as hell are.
I am one of those that lost my passion for this, and I simply cannot see myself back in coaching at this stage of my life. You are doing something special here, do whatever it takes to hold onto it and if you look for inspiration, just sit back and look at those young faces you are coaching.
Pretty soon, you will realise they are the ones doing most of the coaching as they will remind you time and time again of the simple joys of life we tend to forget about.
Awesome stuff.
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superBul
May 10th, 2011 at 12:39 PM@ Scrumdown:
Lucky they dont wear tutus, maybe Peter will spot them then, he is seriously watching that sport or is it called art? -
fender
May 10th, 2011 at 6:16 PMMcLook, I’ve always enjoyed your tour journals but this article really surpasses all of them. Thanks for being brave and commited enough to share these experiences with me. I was captured.Morne, your resonse here merely confirms what I’ve believed all along – you are an objective analyst by default.
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Minora
May 11th, 2011 at 11:29 AMMcLook – deja vu!! When I read you arti I could just as well have replayed our own U/11 team’s season – only with lesser success than you guys have had… I too coach my son’s U/11 team here in SAfrica and we have similar challenges – A small (numbers and size) squad, limited talent and a history of poor coaching and big losses in previous years. Your tips on the breakdown drills will help somewhat – but my biggest concern is how to get my guys out of the “loser” mentality. You can see it in their eyes when facing familiar opponents, and the hard-edge positive aggressiveness is just not there!! How do you coach the will to win – or more important, the belief that you can compete????? -
Morné
May 11th, 2011 at 11:36 AM@ Minora:Where are you based?
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Scrumdown
May 11th, 2011 at 11:53 AM22@ Minora:
My experience is that it is a gradual process that involves almost minute victories within matches that slowly change attitudes and expectations.How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Same philosophy with a squad such as you coach.
There are also a number of very good FREE resources available to junior coaches that can provide you with drills and skills training specifically aimed at Junior players of the ages you’re busy with.
If you’re interested just send the webmaster (Grootblousmile (GBS)) a mail asking him to contact me about it and I’ll gladly send you the link that will enable you to receive the documents in your e-mail.
Good luck. Rugby needs people to be actively involved, not just sitting on the sidelines moaning about everything.
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Morné
May 11th, 2011 at 11:57 AM@ Scrumdown:Spot on and McLook touches on this in his article.
He identified small areas within rugby, in this instance rucks. He instilled the belief in the team that first we win rucks in games, if our ruck count is better than the opponents, then we have achieved victory.
Any victory, no matter how small, gives the youngsters a sense of achievement.
Start there, and move on from there (next area).
Set goals, set timelines for goals, and go out to achieve those goals.
Winning (and confidence) in rugby is a hell of a lot more than what the scoreboard reads at the end of the day.
And never forget, victory is achieved in the mind first before its achieved on the field!
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Minora
May 11th, 2011 at 12:02 PMMorné wrote:@ Minora:
Where are you based?
[Translate]Pretoria
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Morné
May 11th, 2011 at 12:05 PM@ Minora:Head over to RuggaWorld quickly, check the SBW article there, and perhaps have a quick chat with a bloke called “Brand”, he is in your area too and getting in touch with him might prove the most important thing you will ever do if you take coaching seriously.
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McLook
May 11th, 2011 at 12:26 PM@ Minora@22:I know exactly what you are talking about; I have the exact same challenge. I could see last saturday -before the match- that they didn’t really believed they could win the match. However, there was some pride in the eyes after the match so I am hopeful that we’ll be able to turn it around.My approach is to 1) shift the attention intially away from winning towards task execusion -little victories. Before you can win a match you have to be efficient in what you do and that is why I bought the click counters and use them during the practice sessions and the matches. We won the breakdown contest on the weekend and that is what we focused on after the match and what I’ll keep on emphazising this week. The second thing is to be brutally honest and to put things in perspective. We lost on the scoreboard because we couldn’t contain the big boys but won the first half because we kept the ball away (mostly) from the big boys. So how do we go from here? They need to understand that fitness and better execusion are crucial for sucess.
In the final analysis I would be happy (not really but will make my peace with it) if we lose our next 5 matches but keep on showing steady improvement with reagrd to core skills. I think kids need to learn to play proper rugby and they don’t need to WIN to learn that. My job is to get them to love rugby; to experience the joy of group cohesiveness; the power of having a shared goal and to develop sound technical skills. I believe if I can suceed with all the above we will win some matches. I can’t even remember how many matches I won and lost in my U/11 year. What I do remember is what I’ve learned about the game in that year namely to stay on the inside of the ball carrier so he can’t pass me on the inside, to tackle the big guys low (on the ankles) and to tackle in on the ball with the backline players. My father taught me to keep my back straight by dipping and driving and by keeping my head higher the my hips went I go into a ruck and a tackle. He also taught me how to keep my head protected behind my shoulder when I drive in on the ball; how to get my impact shoulder above the ball and my feet close before I rip so that can rip from the hip and with my shoulder and not with my hands or arms.
These are the things that became the foundation of my future rugby career and on which my understanding of the game still rests today. I’ve learned it at U/11 level and still remembers it. What was important to me at that age? Not winning. I wanted to learn about the game and winning to be honest didn’t really matter. I wanted to learn to pass, sidestep, dropkick, place kick, scrumhalf pass and all those sort of things and I truelly believe that to much emphasis on winning is negative towards having fun and developing playing skills.
I’ve found that once a kid knows how to tackle and how to enter a ruck the fear dissapears because they are to busy focussing on doing it right that they forget about being scared. What to do if they do things right and lose because there was a couple of Jona Lomu’s in the other team? Well I’ll put that in perpective (that we leaked a couple of tries because of a freakish talent in the other team) and praise them for what they did right and then we’ll talk about how are we going to prevent the Jona Lomu’s messing it up for us next time. Their is growth and learning in that process even if we don’t get it 100% right next time.
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McLook
May 11th, 2011 at 12:37 PM@ Morné@25:Good answer. I’ll concur with everything said. -
McLook
May 11th, 2011 at 12:41 PMScrumdown wrote:My experience is that it is a gradual process that involves almost minute victories within matches that slowly change attitudes and expectations.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.I like this remark. In essence for me this means: Have a plan and work your plan. Adjust as you go along but stick with your plan.
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Minora
May 11th, 2011 at 1:36 PMScrumdown wrote:22@ Minora:
My experience is that it is a gradual process that involves almost minute victories within matches that slowly change attitudes and expectations.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Same philosophy with a squad such as you coach.
There are also a number of very good FREE resources available to junior coaches that can provide you with drills and skills training specifically aimed at Junior players of the ages you’re busy with.
If you’re interested just send the webmaster (Grootblousmile (GBS)) a mail asking him to contact me about it and I’ll gladly send you the link that will enable you to receive the documents in your e-mail.
Good luck. Rugby needs people to be actively involved, not just sitting on the sidelines moaning about everything.[Translate]
Thanks Scrumdown.
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Minora
May 11th, 2011 at 1:39 PM@ McLook:
Great advice. Thanks. -
The Brand
May 11th, 2011 at 10:26 PMMinora – the advice given at 24, 26 and 28 is very sound indeed.From a sport coaching perspective – I absolutely agree. It covers the foundation – with increased skills levels come higher confidence in doing.
Breaking down performance as a whole into manageable steps (even baby steps) and stages is vital – as the youngsters improve in execution thereof so would their confidence grow.
When we confuse confidence with beingness we encounter problems – as we get when we speak of “confidence” players. Confidence is not being – it is a belief in doing an ability/skill.
That is all fine when we want to improve confidence in the doing of skills and improving of performance.
Yet when we want to change/improve an attitude – “loser” mentality – we might need to address the following as well.
We have to look at Mindsets and States – and starting with the effect of Fixed and Growth Mindsets is as good a place to start than any.
In Fixed players believe their abilities are fixed – and even though they may believe they will improve they ‘know’ it will always only be to the defined limit of such ability.
In Fixed they also belief they have or don’t have “Talent” for something which “Talent” is defined/fixed – therefore if they, out of previous losing own experiences, believe the are not “talented” enough – zero amount of coaching skills will make any significant difference.Because as soon as they are playing against “more talented” players/teams they can’t possibly win and if they do – the win is “written off” as luck/once off/circumstances/etc.
They still do not belief they are “good enough”.
So what ’cause’ this Fixed Mindset? Sadly parents, teachers and coaches – often with the best intent when they praise ability/talent/IQ as well as when they value such “fixed” abilities. I mean if you either have it or not – what’s to do?
Also – the moment a child experience they are – eveluated – not on being any more but on ability/IQ/performanceM for most kids this happens around age 4. Before they are ‘oulik’(quite)(sp) and most everything they do is fine and OK – and then life changes forever. Kids experience over and over that WHO they are and their growth counts/are valued far less than WHAT they do and what their abilities are deemed to be – FOREVER !!!
How often have we said a boy of age 11 HAVE ballsense or not ???
In Growth Mindset you do not believe IQ/ability is fixed – you do not also believe in “talent” – so what DO you believe then?
You believe that anybody given their current physical development can constantly improve their ability/IQ and that improvement is dependent on effort/process/strategy.
So this is where the above advice is sooo valuable.
By talking/installing/believing/demonstrating Growth Mindset the players will through the Pygmalion effect start to live it.
(As a rule I dislike working mentally with youngsters – as a mindcoach – the parents have tooo strong a counter influence)
My advice is thus if possible to try and get parents to support and enact a Growth Mindset – a very tall order as most of us believe in the Fixed Mindset.
I hope this has added value to you amazing challenge and opportunity! Feel free to ask some more makker
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The Brand
May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 PMOK – that said!We all have contexts where we are ‘more’ Growth Minded and other contexts where we are “more’ Fixed Minded – ALL of us.
The real game is then to start to ID when we are in Growth or Fixed Mindset and to what extend/degree!!!
Using as scale. Of 0-10 is very helpful.
I prefer to add continuum concept with Fixed on left pole at 10 and Growth on right pole at 10 with ZERO in the middle.Once you and your players AND their parents do THIS – coaching will be mostly about the development and expansion of skills. All skills – individual and collectively as a team.
So what then when Johnny can’t catch/pass/kick/tackle as per “godly defined talent standard” hehehe or are we the “gods”.
Well then we break the skill down into manageable chunks and go through the steps and stages as many times as needed – because ALL of us are on different developmental paths given our personal history.
Is it possible to coach any skill (even ballsense) at any age?
Absolutely YES – given the players physical development.
Here is my story – I was useless at catching and passing a rugby ball – I used to shat on any player passing to me in a game or expecting me to pass to them. All my playing career I was teased about how utterly shite I was catching and passing.
I myself and all my coaches “clearly” realised I was nor “godly endowed” with ball handling talent.
Then at age 42 I mind-coached at a high school 1st rugby team – and was ‘hammered’. Then something strange happened – the coach coached the catching and passing skills deliberately and I watched day afyer day after day – and started to help the boys not ‘getting’ it – within one season – was amazed at the level my ‘talent’ all of a sudden changed.Then 3 1/2 years ago my son started to play cricket a sport I never played because of my ‘non-talent butter fingers’ and corresponding fear for the red stone – within two years I noticed how few balls I dropped when joining fielding practice and simply catching and doing throw-downs.
Today when I shower and the bar of soap slip out of my hand I catch it more often than not before it hit the floor – often inches off the floor
I am also blessed with a son who has very limited sport required ability. We have to think, practice, develop and improve nearly every skill required in a different way.
At every sport he tries his hand he is judged incapable and thus ‘untalented’- his latest sport (this quarter) is hockey. What a journey, what a challenge, what a growth experience!!!
THAT has even more than anything else convinced me that – Talent is a Myth !!!
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The Brand
May 12th, 2011 at 9:54 AMMcLook this was my reply at RW to Morne’s reference of your article:
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The Brand says:
May 11th, 2011 at 10:00 am Morne @ 9.16
Great read at RT
Eish had me wiping tears – f*ck you for that – loved it sooo much.
Great to be crying this time of the day about what somebody else write on the other side if the world. Amazing times we are living!!!- – -
Hehehe – Thanks -
Minora
May 12th, 2011 at 10:49 AM@ The Brand:
Thanks TB. If I understand you correctly the focus shifts from a Fixed mindset to that of Growth, by breaking the skill learning / teaching into manageable chunks?What I did yesterday with my team is to sit them down and implement some of the learnings from my discussion with McLook, i.e. lets focus on achieving smaller targets (competing and winning at breakdowns, putting together phases, number of tackles, number of turnovers, own lineouts and scrums won etc.) and focusing on the bigger picture i.e. why we are here – not to win the league, but to grow from boys into men by playing a sport that we LOVE and by building a TEAM (Broederbond).
I then took McLook’s advice and split the team into 2 teams (4 forwards, 4 backs in each side) and had them practice rucks and mauls with quick ball to the backs – along with positive feedback and encouragement. I did notice a lot more effort and sense of achievement from the guys in winning the small battles and realising that they can do something right.
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superBul
May 12th, 2011 at 11:26 AMI love this article and all the comments on it, i would like to keep this topic going. I have Grand children now also in Sport, my oldest grand daughter is 10 and in grade 2 and plays netball , in a struggling team, this article and comments will help them for sure. I already asked my daughter to read it.My second oldest grand child played his first Bulletjie rugby game last Saturday, i could not attend , i was torn in two by that, i had to visit my aging mother but my thoughts was also with him. I bought him a great Springbok sweater, according to his dad he played quite well, he says he scored 10 tries and the medal and smile that he had proved that he really enjoyed it. He is in a small pre primary school at Mariepskop and there is just enough kids to make up a team. With his 2 best friends they are a naughty trio, but the interplay between them on the rugby field mesmerized the other teams, they passed like pros and scored tries galore. Hell this oupa can go on and on, so proud and glad he enjoyed it. His dad was most impressed by his tackling, according to him he floored a few boys good and solid.
We must make these articles a regular feature on Rugby-Talk. This gives Oupas like me a chance to Brag too.
I will move the thread to pages after a week,if GBS agrees. It will be under OTHER RUGBY, Junior Development.
I will prepare that space in the meantime. -
Ashley
May 12th, 2011 at 11:47 AMsuper @ 37
you’re a OUPA?
jeez, how OOOOOOOOOLD are you then?
..
hehehehe, well now that you’re back to earth … congrats on the youngster’s 1st steps in rugby there, super … sounds to me like he was playing province rugby there, lol.
anyway, you’ll be able to see a few of his games for yourself soon!!! -
Blue Bird
May 12th, 2011 at 12:24 PMMcLook, what a fantastic article…..
Those kids will remember with pride the days when they played as a team and the skills they learned on and off the field. All good stuff……….. -
Blue Bird
May 12th, 2011 at 12:28 PM@ superBul:
As I do not have children I was however, very proud when my Border Collie who is an excellent football player seemed very taken with rugby when she played with the 6 nephews on Easter Sunday!!She was great at intercepting passes, however did not understand the concept of knock on’s or passing the ball forwards!!
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Ashley
May 12th, 2011 at 12:33 PMbluebird @ 40
“She was great at intercepting passes, however did not understand the concept of knock on’s or passing the ball forwards!!”
..
i was going to say something about “possible blue bulls contract”,
but
i think i’d rather not!! -
Scrumdown
May 12th, 2011 at 12:58 PM41@ Ashley:
No Ashley, Lions cheque book far fatter these days, and she will fit in anywhere in the team / squad / Union with attributes like those! -
Tripples
May 12th, 2011 at 1:20 PMYep dis so waar,My Grandson is now 4 and he also started playing rugby this year, it is not bulletjie rugby though where they grab each others tags, this lot still tackle and everything…..it is so cute, when one kid gets the ball they all ‘hopie’ him and then the ‘coaches’ stand there and pull them off one by one unceremoniously deposting them to the side. it was soooo funny.
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Tripples
May 12th, 2011 at 1:20 PMdeposting=depositing EISH
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superBul
May 12th, 2011 at 1:51 PM@ Tripples:
hahahahaha that must be funny, i wonder if there is any videos of this on You Tube. -
Ashley
May 12th, 2011 at 1:54 PMtrips @ 43
lol -
Tripples
May 12th, 2011 at 2:12 PMsal bietjie kyk of ek ‘n video gemaak het daarvan -
The Brand
May 12th, 2011 at 4:15 PM@ Minora – well done with implementing what was said on thread.It is more the difference between Fixed and Growth Mindsets that is important.
As long as parents, coaches and players believe their abilities are – fixed/defined – we are stuffed.
The moment we begin to believe our abilities – all of it – is in development/process, we start to ask different questions leading to different evaluations and judgments.
Then the evaluations are not of permanent nature but rather of development -e.g. where are these players on a scale of 1 – 10 for example in executing the skill – and then where are the players on scale of 1 – 10 on executing skill consistently?
What standards are we using?Then it becomes ‘natural’ to break skills down into steps and stages for coaching and measuring successful execution.
The alternative in Fixed Mindset is to believe the players are incapable of doing it – incapable of learning it because the don’t and never will have the “natural” abilities!
Then we find the carrot and stick approaches – which are sad indeed.
I expect 2 things from my kid and a 3rd thereafter.
1 – he has to put full effort in what he is doing.
2 he has to manage his attitude – so that his attitude is beneficial and not harming to results.
Thereafter only 3 – evaluation and adjustment to strategy/structure/process/ steps and stages of skill.Without great 1 and 2 we are wasting time on 3!!!
Hope this clarified some more
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McLook
May 13th, 2011 at 1:42 AM@ The Brand@35:Hehehehe, Yes mate even though I wrote it -in a moment of ecstasy after the match- I got tears in my eyes when I re-read it. I was in such a high after the match that I just had to write something about it.I sat down and wrote the whole thing in 10 minutes. Essentially just typing away as the emotions swept through me. While re-reading I started choking up. I know it’s like laughing for your own joke but the emotions expienced during the game came flooding back. My wife came into the room asked what’s wrong. I said I wrote something you’ve got to read and walked out. When I came back 5 or 7 minutes later she was crying her eyes out in front of the computor.
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McLook
May 13th, 2011 at 6:02 AMsuperBul@37 wrote:I will move the thread to pages after a week,if GBS agrees. It will be under OTHER RUGBY, Junior Development.
Great idea SuperB. THis way junior coaches like myself can post questions and share training ideas. I’ll write something about the drills I’ve been using with some drawings and I’ll alos explain more about the small sided games which is crucial to integrate the drills into the game situation.
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superBul
May 13th, 2011 at 6:09 AM@ McLook:
Have you got access to the Pages?If not i will just copy your articles to that
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McLook
May 13th, 2011 at 6:20 AM<
English