The Journey of a Grassroots Rugby Coach (More Tracksuits less Business Suits)

This episode is with Darragh Coyle.

Darragh's passion for the sport saw him transition into coaching in 2016, where he spent several years coaching schoolboy and junior mens Rugby in Dublin, Ireland, during which time he also completed a Masters in "Coaching Science in Sport."

More recently he has uprooted to the United Kingdom where he has continued to work within the school rugby sphere, as well as coaching in the youth development programme at the Yorkshire Rugby Academy.

We spoke about the Development work he does with the Yorkshire Rugby Academy as well as some of the work he does with the Lienster Academy. 

We spoke about Coaching Philosophies, Getting advise from Mentors and Reflecting on games and player performance.

Today's episode is with Riki Cribb "The Maori Mystic"

Riki is a Mindset and Strength and Condition Consultant. 

He works with a number of elite level athletes and clubs around the world.

He worked in Australia as a mental skills coach with the ACT Brumbies.

With the current situation in Australia around lockdowns, due to Covid 19, and a lot of club rugby being suspended or cancelled we spoke about ways coaches can connect with their players around mindfulness.

Jeff is currently coaching in Byron Bay on the far north coast of New South Wales, 

He coaches under 16 and colts (U20), as well as NSW country U18s. He then moved into the Junior Gold program and then into NSW country. 

He has been coaching NSW Country for the last six years.

He is currently in the process of setting up the Dolphins Rugby Academy with Andrew Fraser to assist representative players within his area.

This Episode I spoke with James Barkell Phd.

James has coached from U6’s through to 1st grade in Shute Shield and almost everything in between.

James has been a PE teacher for close to 20 years and held positions such as MIC rugby at schools coaching all age groups across primary and secondary school.

In 2010 he completed a master of sports coaching at Sydney Uni and a few years later did a PhD.

He has published research articles on skill acquisition, coaching pedagogy and performance analysis.

He has a good chat about all things grassroots coaching.

Welcome to "The Journey of a Grass Roots Rugby Coach" (more tracksuits less business suits).

In this first episode I have given you a litle insight into me and my journey so far as a Rugby Coach.