Rugby Coach Weekly

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In 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 implemented
• Will the sanctions work and how
• What changes you might need to make
• How do you deal with large squads
• What has been the experience in Wales where they have been using this rule already

The contributors
Nathan Gosling - Coach and teacher in Devon, North Devon DPP lead coach and a coach for Barnstaple u16s, coach mentor/helper Barnstaple Junior section
Ian Hollingworth - Kids First Coach Coordinator, Billericay RFC and DPP lead coach in Essex
Tim Ravenscroft - Age Grade chair with Gloucestershire and U12s coach
Ian "Spike" Milligan - co-author of Mini and Youth Rugby, and Club Coaching Coordinator plus coaches the Bury Foxes women's team
Andy Stevens, Kids First chair at Ellingham and Ringwood club, and U11s club coach
Mike Gravenor, coaching at Mumbles, Wales, with over 12 years experience coaching across three different teams

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We 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 tempo
• Using different questions with different players
• What he calls the unusual suspects and why
• What sessions can look like with different levels of player
• When 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

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Dr 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 learn
• Why that learning is different from what players learn
• How we can improve our experience of going on courses
• What are the three key aspects that courses could concentrate on
• How coaching context, biography, and intrapersonal skills make a big difference

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly

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Recovery 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.com

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly

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Also, 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!

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In 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.org

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly

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Also, 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!

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Liza Burgess talks with former Scottish international and experienced coach, Donna Kennedy. She is passionate about the women's game, Scottish rugby and coaching as a whole. She talks about how the women's game needs to change to continue to move forward. Donna has coached at lots of levels of the game, including the Barbarians, and as director of rugby at Worcester. 

The topics also include:

• How to organise team talks
• Are there difference coaching men to women?
• The highs and lows after playing and coaching rugby
• How can we benefit from ex International players by helping them to stay involved in the game

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly

To find out more about our Partner Club offer

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Also, 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!

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A podcast with the legendary Anna Richards talking about her progression from playing to coaching along with an insight into what is exciting her about the future of the women's game 

• How to deal with situations on the playing field when things don’t go quite to plan.
• Top tips for a coach new to rugby.
• What’s it like to coach the famous Barbarians squad.
• An insight into coaching Hong Kong.

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly

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Also, 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!

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In our series of session walkthroughs, Chris Sweetapple discusses with a game he renamed "hot rucks", which was a development of the Rugby Coach Weekly game, Snap-back ruck game.

We start by chatting about the season review process, including his club's "speed-dating" session to improve each team's understanding of the coming season.

In the walkthrough, we discuss:

• How to set up the game.
• Key factors for quick games.
• How to coach effectively during the game.
• Why he renamed the game "hot rucks"/
• How you would change the game for different levels of player.
• What were the main outcomes and how this made a difference to the season.
• What ages this game would work for.

Click here to see the original session.

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly

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Rich Clarke, a highly qualified S&C coach, university lecturer and evidence-based trainer, talks us through how we can make simple changes to improve our agility training. He explains how we can use constraints, ensure a specific stimulus and where we might start with less athletic players.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Agility needs a specific perceptual stimulus
• Where to start with less athletic players
• How to coach basic techniques with simple constraints
• Having a clear rationale in session design
• Ladders, Box jumps and Hill running: Yes or No?

For more from Rich, go to:
richperformance.co.uk

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly

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Also, 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 Fan Mail

Liza Burgess talks to LJ Lewis about her Level 4 journey so far. LJ is the forwards coach for Tyrrells Premiership team, Gloucester Hartpury, and former player with Loughborough.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Understand the person to help develop them into a better player
• Find out what you’re passionate about in the game and learn as much as you can about it
• Talk and ask questions of other coaches to develop your knowledge
• Understand what you’re trying to get across to the players and what you want them to achieve 
• Use a variety of methods to deliver content, for example, iPhones to record, peer coaching and self-feedback

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 HERE

Also, 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!