Rugby Coach Weekly

Send us a textGed Hall coaches across a wide range of ages and abilities. A deep thinker about his coaching, he shares with us practical solutions and thoughts around what a good training session might look like.Ged is a DPP coach with Sale Sharks, youth development manager with Sandbach RFC and a coach at Haberdashers’ Abraham Darby School.In this podcast, we delve into:What does practice design really look likeGetting the right balance between planned and unplannedWhat mastery means for different age groupsDefining purposeWhat does your coaching plan look like on a piece of A4 paperHow long should run an activity for - getting your timings rightHow to use skills zones at the right timeCoach interventions: when, how and what should be saidThe detail of coaching the tackleContesting possession: what might a good practice session look likeWhat mistakes do you see your players making and how do you help them resolve themCreating "shape" even in a chaotic game - why that might workTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textSophie Spence, former Irish XV’s and 7’s rugby international player and now coach of Penclawdd Men’s Division 1 team, talks about her coaching journey as a converted netball player with Liza "Bird" Burgess. Her passion, love and enthusiasm for the game shines through the podcast, along with her relentless drive to become a better coach.In the pod, Bird and Sophie discuss:Moving late from netball to rugby, and how sports skills can transferFrom international rugby player into coaching, women's and men'sMoving the game into becoming professionalAdvice to aspiring coachesHow to learn from listening to others, and being vulnerableFrustrations in developing the gameCreating a girls rugby academyThe differences between women's and men's rugby coachingCoaching a men's team in WalesTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textAre your training sessions giving the players the best learning? Is your coaching allowing them to become more creative?Paul Kirschner and Carl Hendrick are leading experts in the learning world. In their latest book, How Learning Happens, they introduce us to 28 giants of educational research and their findings on how we learn and what we need to learn effectively, efficiently, and enjoyably.Using Paul and Carl's expertise, we translate their findings into sporting contexts.Here are some of the many areas we cover:The difference between playing and learningHow the coach can intervene in play to enhance learningThe inefficiency of discovery learningWhat's too much coachingHow spaced practice can accelerate learningThe key differences for learning between the classroom and the training groundWhat does "expressing yourself" really mean - and where it can go wrongWhy we might have to suppress fun and playfulness at timesMotivation and success - the mythWhy you should be thinking more about your retrieval practicesWhy schools don't kill creativity and what lessons you can learn from thatTop tips on practice designLearning why what you do works, so can keep doing it, or change to doing something elseHow Learning Happens: Seminal Works in Educational Psychology and What They Mean in Practice is out now (4th March 2020). Click here to order.And as a special offer to our listeners, you get a 20% discount if you apply this code: BSE20Paul A. Kirschner is Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology at the Open University of the Netherlands as well as Guest Professor at the Thomas More University of Applied Science in Belgium.Carl Hendrick teaches at Wellington College, UK, and holds a PhD in Education from King’s College London.To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textMark Saltmarsh, who is Head of Education and Age Grade Rugby at the RFU, tells us how the "Half a game" rule (HGR) has worked so far, and what have been the challenges.Mark gives an honest assessment of the current roll-out, with plenty of practical ways to make it work for all clubs.We covered:The principles behind the ruleWhy have a rule when good coaches should be doing this alreadySome of the main issues that have caused problems: cup games, keen players becoming demotivatedThe role of sanctions How conversations before games make it easier to implementHow HGR is being integrated into courses.For more resources on HGR go to the RFU website. Click here.To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textMark Bennett MBE, a leading coach and coach developer, explains how he helps coaches to help players to think for themselves. He has very powerful methods to work across all levels of the game, to suit the player in front of you.In this podcast, we explored these areas:What is meant by a coachable playerHow to make players think for themselvesWhat tools to use, with players and with coachesThe rule of three - how it is for you, not for themWhat to set as targets so there are intrinsicHow to work with mixed ability groupsCreating Ninjas in your coaching worldMark is a former British Commando and senior instructor with the Army Physical Training Corps. He has had over 30 years of practice and research into developing his coaching and learning consultancy, Performance Development Systems (PDS).He currently works as a consultant, coach trainer and mentor with various professional and national sport organizations, teams and universities around the world, as well as schools and community sports.For more information and to contact him to see if he can help you, visit:www.pdscoaching.comTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textGeraint Davies, who coaches level 5 men's club rugby and school teams from under 11 upwards, also publishes some of the best video analysis of top professional games on YouTube. He is currently just completing his level 4 coaching award.In the podcast, Geraint explains...The benefits you and your teams get from reviewing video footage from top class games.How you translate what you see in the footage into training design.How you can vary your feedback on the footage to suit different age groups.Different ways to introduce a new technique or tactic.The right focus on when you are watching back videos.How can we watch our games in real time.You can visit his YouTube channelOr contact him via TwitterTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textDoug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion and world-renowned educational speaker, shows us how we can use simple and effective techniques on the practice ground. He has worked with sports organisations as well as his crucial work in the classroom context to create better learning outcomes.He's studied thousands of hours footage and observed teachers and coaches in wide range of situations. His work is a reflection of the best practice at work.In this podcast, we discuss:Why the classroom and sports field share so much common groundWhy most weekly planning goes wrongHow to mix up your training programme to create deeper learningHow to correct mistakes effectively and quicklyUsing "Cold calling" for engagement and your own checkpointsUsing "Turn and talk" to improve communication skillsUsing "Wait time" to help feedbackHow to avoid "rounding up" poor answersTo find out more about Teach Like a Champion, go to https://teachlikeachampion.comAlso, his sports bloghttps://teachlikeachampion.com/category/blog/coaching-and-practice/To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWilbur Kraak, a senior lecturer and rugby researcher at Department of Sport Science, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, has recently published his findings on the effects of a skills specific coaching education programme on the skill level of mini-rugby players.Working with Jacques Basson, their conclusions shed further light on what good practice design looks like and what we should be encouraging coaches to focus on.In this podcast, I ask Wilbur aboutThe background to the researchHow they split the coaches and teams into a control group and experimental groupWhat skills were they measuring and how?How they upskilled the coaches of the experimental group and how they reacted to thisWhat skills programme did they follow and how would they improve on thatWhat is meant by the fundamentals in movement skills and game skills?Which skills really improved, more than expectedconfirm or change views on what practice design looks likeEffect of a skills specific coaching education programme on the skill level of mini-rugby players | Basson | South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation https://ajol.info/index.php/sajrs/article/view/191634To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textCraig Gunn and I tackle some of the more difficult parts of coaching, especially with younger players.First, we talk about how a coach can help a player who's frustrated that their team mates don't try hard in every training session. This often happens as players reach their teens.Second, Gunny has been inspired by his recent visit to St David's College, in Llandudno (wait for him to try to pronounce that!).We discuss how important it is to differentiate in training, what's practical to do and how you might do it with your team.As usual, Gunny provides us with a range of evidence-based solutions which he's either used or seen work in practice.For more on Gunny and the great work he does go to:craiggunn.orgOr visit him on Twitter@c_gunny73To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textAn insight into Wasps Ladies Director of Rugby, Giselle Mather’s coaching journey and her top tips and advice for coaching rugby.Giselle played for England, winning the 1994 World Cup. She then went onto coach England women's development teams, before working with London Irish Academy and Teddington mens, with great success.She is a trailblazer in women's coaching and the first holder of a Level 4 coaching badge.She talks aboutWhat she learned from the journeyHow she is herself and authentic is the way she deals with coachingHow she persuaded doubting men of her ability to coach"If you can it, you can be it""The revolution is on its way!"To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer, there's a great webinar coming up: FIND OUT MORE HEREAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!