If you are like me then you have been privy to some pretty mundane training sessions that really lacked any point, focus, intent, direction or purpose. If you are suffering from this seemingly unavoidable situation then read on becasue I want to share with you a template I use for keeping things…shall we say…honest on the training pitch.
As a coach you will find that alot of baggage follows the amateur rugby player…work..family…realtionnsips…kids…traffic jams..so how do you get that out of their heads..quickly allowing you to get the most of out of THEM?
The onus lies on your firstly. If you have a start, middle and end of the session then invaraibly it is easy. Soem days I have winged it but the bottom line is that I know what I wanted from a conditioning session. I know where I wanted to start and where the boys or girls should be ending up…on their knees..feeling great…lifted..mentally broken. You have to make that decision.
1) Laps of a Field
Before you click your back button..hear this out. This is NOT a way of getting your player’s fit. Merely a way of getting hte shite out of your player’s heads. Two laps of the field. I make it clear that they need to get whatever baggage they have out of thier heads. when they get back the business starts. It also allows for the latecomers and there are always one or two.
2) Dynamic and Shock Warm up
I allow 15-20 minutes for a dynamic warm up involving moving stretches and some shock tactics. Shock tactics can involved commando crawls the length of a field, bear crawls the lenght of a field, wheelbarrow races, fireman carries, wrestling drills. No weight needed just each other and alot of toughness. Again the art of coaching comes in when to deliver the handgrenade. (thanks to strength and conditioning coach, Phil Richards for this)
3) Drills
It is best to work into stations with the same drill performed for 10-15 minutes. I think it is important to never aim for pefection - just a standard that allows for constant engagement and focus. The players need to knwo that they will be working for a set period of time. If things drag out so does the standard. You could work on handling, rucking height - whatever - this is the skills element.
5 minute rest
4) Conditioning
This is then the fun starts. Tyre flipping races, more commando crawls, phosphates, spider tests. I think it is important to always make this competitive. The losers loses and loses hard. If people are not working hard then never punish the individual - punish the group. Let the group sort it out amongst themselves.
5 minute rest
5) Move back to another station of drills
Move back in your groups to the drills. It could be another 10 minute block focusing on another area of the game.
5 minute rest
6) Move back to conditioning
Move back into another 10 minutes of conditioning. Mix up your drills. Keep the stimuation high.
5 minute rest
Depending on time you could finish with a small sided game. However, my focus normally with this type of training is that this is all out conditioning (balls-to-the-wall-stuff) and should be emphasised that way.
It works well. It keeps the stimuation high and the output high too and that my friends is the key. Afterall if you can make training harder than the game then more often that not, the players will be chomping at the leash to get stuck in on Saturday.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Just read this -great template, thanks. Have checked out ‘phosphate tests’, but what are ’spider tests`? Cheers
I will have to post a video of this - better to explain - they are repeated 5 m sprints that increase in length. Max effort (distance covered) in 30 seconds.
Hi There
I’m 24 years old, and have been appointed the skills and back line coach for our academy u/20 team. I’ve had previous experience in coaching and have a level 3 coaching deploma from the University OF Potchefstroom(Pukke). I have coached primary school teams and have done well. Had some experience with a high school fisrt team, this too whent well. But my problem started as soon as I was appointed at the u/20 level. The thing is, I am strugling to get the respect of the players, they see me as a buddy, cause of me not being much older than them, I think..? I also think cause I’m not a big deal, like John Plumtree, Jake White, ect..!? I don’t know realy. How do I get through to them? And get their respect? The thing that I have also noticed is that they are all from big rugby schools in South Africa, so they dismiss drills and skill sessions quickly, they have this kind of “Invincebale Ora” around them and think they don’t need to learn any more. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you for you time and advice.
i have been given the job of training the forwards 4 a team that has both people who have never seen a rugby ball & people who have played 4 a few yrs .
i have a few ideas, but would take on
any suggestions on training forwards
thks
rick
Nolan - you need to harden your approach. You are not their friend - you are their coach and results are what matter. I would go and shadow a top coach. Learn from them. See how they earn their respect. I have always found that you need the Alpha Wolf approach. everything about you is reflected onto them. Give them a few sessions from hell and toughen them up. If they have an ego - they are weak as players.
Keep posted Rick, I have a site that will be launched shortly that will have all the information you need to help you coach forwards and get them match ready.
Hi John
Thanks for the advice, I scheduled a meeting with John Plumtree, the Sharks head coach. Since we are part of the Sharks Academy he was more than happy to help. He let me sit in on a couple of training sessions and let me speak to some of the players and aked them what they look for in a coach, and how to deal with player with egos. John also said I need to be firm, and demand their respect in the way I talk to them alwell as well as how to handle the practises. He gave me similar advice as you did, and I gave them a couple of sessions from hell. The first session I sat them down, gave them a good long speech, That Plumtree gave me, and made them sweat out their egos. It started off slowly with them just going threw the paces kinda low key, but everytime I was not satisfied with their efforts I made them do the drill again and again until they got it right. And after a while they realized that I was serious and was not going to tolarate half paced work, they started to listen more effectivly and and did every I asked off them at full pace with minimul complaining. What was only going to be an hour session turned out to be almost a 2hour session. Afterwards I told them that they only punished themselves and if they had done everything properly they could have finished much sooner. The next day I told hem it was going to be a similar session as the day before. They where not happy, but I told them the same rules apply for every session than the day before. And if they work hard from the start it would only be an hour. The intensity was there from the start, except with a few. But I made the whole team suffer for the two or three that were not giving it thier all. The team quicly sorted them out and soon everyone was working at full pace. It went so well after 45min I called it. Since those two sessions everything has been going better I seemed to have gotten threw to them. There is less bitchin and moaning at sessions and we haven’t lost a game in the second round since I’ve been involved.
Thanks for the advice.
Cheers Nolan
nolan - great to hear your positive feedback. well done on taking action on it! it works, especially with rugby. I had this reinforced by a collegue of mine, Phil Richards, in that never punish an individual - NEVER! they will work it out themselves why you keep adding in exercises if you see one of the lads not pulling thier weight. never single a lad out, inevitably they will turn on you.