Rugby Coach Weekly

Send us a textIn this hugely positive podcast, Jennifer Fraser PhD, discusses with me how we define bullying, what it looks like and how we can reduce the impact of bullies. She has spent many years researching this area, particularly the neuroscience around the relationship between coach/teacher and children.I was keen to know if, as coaches, we inadvertently bully our players. She was able to point to the research around how children react to pressure from coaches to perform. Crucially, we drew lines around what is acceptable and unacceptable. We talk about language, experiences, childrens' brains, positive steps and ways to deal with bullies.Jen is an author and educator. Her book, Teaching Bullies, is an alarming story of how the authorities didn’t deal effectively with bullying in a school environment.It is a call to action those who want to protect children from bullying especially when it's done by teachers and coaches.For more information, please visit her website:www.NeuroParadigm.comTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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 textBird Burgess, fresh from being appointed as the first woman on the WRU council, talks to former international team mate, Rachel Taylor. When this was recorded, both were still reeling from a famous victory for the mens' team against Australia in the World Cup that morning, but much of their focus is on the women's game."Tails" is also trailblazing in the coaching world, with WRU roles in age grade rugby, and more recently becoming the first woman to be a regional skills coach with the North Wales academy.She doesn't hold back as she discusses the reality of developing a culture with a team. She also gives a honest and open insight into the differences between the men’s and women’s approach to rugby.She talks about how spending time to get to know your players and finding out the ‘real' person behind the rugby player is an invaluable coaching tool.Her motto: Every day is a school day!To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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 textKeri Lovell, a WRU hub officer, head coach with Vale U15s in the Dewar Shield and working across local schools, describes how he changed his approach to coaching.He tells us how he made a big adjustment after chatting to Russell Earnshaw, and discovered how much more comfortable he could be dealing with the balance between winning and performance.In the podcast we find out:How he connects with playersWhat he does to give them more confidenceHow he adjusts games in training to develop playersWhat he has changed, and continues to changeThe importance of mentorsCreating excitement around the game and improvementsTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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 textKatleho Lynch is a South Africa U17s elite development coach. His passionate about defence training U18s teams at schools, plus working with provinces, clubs and universities.He has learned his trade from all parts of the rugby world and brings his energy and purpose into his sessions.In this podcast, he outlines:The key techniques he looks forHow he builds techniques into skillsWays in which you can make tackling more gamelikeHow he drives his players to higher standardsWhat systems suit what situationsTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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 textJack Pattinson, academy and DPP coach at London Irish, in the South of England, talks to me about how he plans his coaching and what principles drive his sessions.I challenge him about the balance between skills training and game training, what the future player needs to know and how he measures success.We discuss:The difference between coaching grassroots and academy rugbyHow he helps players love the gameHow do we measure success in our coachingCreating World Class young mean and what that means for a 15 year oldWhat are the primary principles of the London Irish academyShould we be coaching players for what the game might look like in five years’ timeWhy a coach needs to more than a “catch-pass” teacherWhat a plan looks like, and how much it might changeFree play – how to incorporate it into sessions so it adds valueA destination for your coaching planThe chicken or the egg – do you coach the game and then see what skills are needed or vice versaHow new rules changes can create a better gameTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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 textIn this collaborative podcast, Dan Cottrell talks to six coaches across the grassroots spectrum. He asks them about the new regulation for teams up to U18s in England, where all match day squad players must play at least half a game.We discuss:Why did it need to be implementedWill the sanctions work and howWhat changes you might need to makeHow do you deal with large squadsWhat has been the experience in Wales where they have been using this rule alreadyThe contributorsNathan Gosling - Coach and teacher in Devon, North Devon DPP lead coach and a coach for Barnstaple u16s, coach mentor/helper Barnstaple Junior sectionIan Hollingworth - Kids First Coach Coordinator, Billericay RFC and DPP lead coach in EssexTim Ravenscroft - Age Grade chair with Gloucestershire and U12s coachIan "Spike" Milligan - co-author of Mini and Youth Rugby, and Club Coaching Coordinator plus coaches the Bury Foxes women's teamAndy Stevens, Kids First chair at Ellingham and Ringwood club, and U11s club coachMike Gravenor, coaching at Mumbles, Wales, with over 12 years experience coaching across three different teamsTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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 textWe spend so much time on coaching the usual suspects of technical, tactical and conditioning, that we can not spend enough time on the unusual suspects.Andy Brownhill, head of rugby at Park House School, Newbury, a pathway coach with Gloucester academy and a coach with Scotland U16s discusses with me:How to use hot feedback to create tempoUsing different questions with different playersWhat he calls the unusual suspects and whyWhat sessions can look like with different levels of playerWhen there's a place for drills and when to use them effectively To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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 textDr Anna Stodter specialises in how coaches learn. Her research gives us an important insight into the impact of coaching courses and how wider learning influences your knowledge and practice.She's a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin university, plays for Saracens and has been capped by Scotland, plus coaches Cambridge University Women’s team.In our conversation, we discuss:What might a coach need to learnWhy that learning is different from what players learnHow we can improve our experience of going on coursesWhat are the three key aspects that courses could concentrate onHow coaching context, biography, and intrapersonal skills make a big differenceTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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 textRecovery is an absolutely essential part of any training regime. Recovery is the process where the body rebuilds itself at the cellular level following physical exertion, allowing those fitness gains to be realised. With poor or inadequate recovery, not only can much or all the hard work in your training sessions be wasted, you may actually reduce your performance capability, and increase the risk of injury and illness.Andy Hamilton, long-time editor of top sports training magazine, Peak Performance, outlines the importance of recovery, and how you can help your players to recover more effectively.We discuss:What recovery looks and feels like.What to do straight after training.When to rest and when to come to training.How to mentally approach recovery.How to use friends and family to help the process.For more on Peak Performance, go to www.peakendurancesport.comTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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 textIn a highly energetic podcast, inspirational coach and educator, Craig Gunn completely messes up my idea of a structure to develop some brilliant ideas for better coaching.We venture into session design, how to maintain control and where coaches sometimes lose sight of the real goals of a session.We mention some gurus of coaching, including Brian Ashton, Lynn Evans, John Fletcher, Russell Earnshaw and Richard Cheetham.We discuss how much experience counts, and how inexperienced coaches can build their own style piece by piece.If you want to find out more on Craig, visit his website: craiggunn.orgTo find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly To find out more about our Partner Club offer CLICK 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!