Everything I learned about coaching a rugby team

For five years Jatta-Mari Harju (née Rouvinen) was probably my most texted person. She wasn′t part of my family, we didn′t work together or I didn′t even know her that well when it all started. We coached a team together in Warriors Rugby Club Helsinki.

I have been away now for half a year but find myself often coming back to successes and failures of coaching time. So it is nice to take this time and reflect how it all went.

When Jatta makes her mark in international rugby cabinets, I want you to know that I did see that coming and am happy to have been part of that journey.

Emotions in list form

Its very hard try to capture all the emotions to one post. But as I try to do it, I will do it th best way for describing emotions. List.

The emptiness what lies ahead without interesting project; satisfaction of achieving what we did; the relief of not having any positions of trust anymore; discomfort on feeling that we werent good enough; joy of being part of the story and that community; happines of memories and knowing that I've spend my time in this and the trainings and game trips; distrust turned to trust when trusting the process actually worked: all the love, because of the good people that are still with me; joy when you see that players go click on the pitch and team drive forward; pride when you see someones self-esteem grow; tiredness to proof all the emotional and strategic and physical work we put into it; smugness when your strategy works out: and the adult feeling of control that comes of noticing ?when it doesn′t serve you anymore, and it doesn′t serve team anymore, and being able to let go; comfort in knowing we did our absolute best; satisfaction in achieving our goals.

As a person who is not too keen on peoples emotion, this hits me.

But as I try to do it, I will do it th best way for describing emotions. List.

Why coach (or play team sport), in list form

Friends, team mates, chosen family, guys you learn to work with after a rought start. So all the people you meet. I know this starts to sound more instagram than linkedin, but out of my community big part came to my life through team sports. I didn't love everyone on the first sight and some I loved very much, so you get all sorts that you wouldn′t get otherwise. I think belonging to a community like team is the thing I currently miss most.

Moments and memories you share with your team mates in those random crappy changing rooms and weird pitches and on the bus in and out. All the songs you learn. I was never a fan of that pre-game gut twist but I also haven′t been able to find anything else that gives you the same kick as a big game.

All the learning and self-confidence gained. We had vision(s) and it did carry through when we trusted our self and the work we put into it, even over the hard (uncertain or conflicting) times. We both did some self-doubt, so seeing all this in perspective is pretty rewarding.

you get all sorts that you wouldn′t get otherwise

All things rugby. ? Rugby is interesting enough game, there is lot of happening in the pitch and different units to work with. I enjoyed having this ever-evolving process, but of course the downside is that it will never be ready.To me its best when I start seeing people click in the pitch and strategy transforming into actual ball carries and tackles. Coaching will force you to think of it as whole and see all the seven million aspects of team workings.

Full running into people. And its physical too: seeing people becoming braver, stronger and smarter brings self-confidence. Full running into people is something you don′t get to do often and bringing people in to this that is surpirsingly awesome. Sometimes you see something big unlocking in peoples head when they get their head around this.

Habbits. Covid also showed what you miss if you don′t get to go out in the training few times a week: you miss that easy feeling of people coming together to do the same thing on the pitch and then go home. Sometimes you have laughs and sometimes you don′t but it doesn′t matter because it is new training next week and shared goal.

?Biggest wins on the way

We started off with quite little - lacking players in the womens team and little involvement, not too much action outside the pitch and club running on minimum viable product on womens team. But still there was that spark that had been with the team all the time through low times. I came along when Jatta had been around for some years already.

?When we left, the number of players had more than tripled; more women are involved in club positions; we won our first game in five years (and then some more): club has equality plan; club is running junior teams and first players from there were also playing in womens team; we had a pool of coaches helping out; we had formed a working coalition with other team: the leading players group had grown; we played in the championship finals; our scrum was stable and kicking game on a brand new level: every home game was streamed and the volunteer pool grown: number of players in national team trainings two to four folded: we had fielded a second team for the division games: and we had a kick-ass system for communicating and sharing information.

We didn′t do all of this, but we were part some of it, and it makes me happy.

Having a bureaucratic systems and communication channel, strategies, devoted named responsibles, volunteers, resources like money and pitch time, and admin structures in place within the club, really allowed us at the end to focus only on coaching and driving the values we went for.

there was that spark that had been with the team all the time

Jatta and I have both chaired a club on our time, so we did see that work that game from board and team management. It was a huge resource in the end and big part of the story. It doesn′t sound too sexy but looking things from where I am at, this off-pitch admin stuff might be the biggest growth of all. And then it turn can convert into more players, shared values, common goals, autonomous leaders and better strategies.

There was a lot of admin work put into this. And it means that whoever comes next, has the platform to continue, documentation, best practices and all, if they wish to use it.

In core of coaching things

You need to be able to coach as a person that you are, with the personality you have. It needs to be one of your biggest strenghts. And team needs to trust in that. You cant be going against yourself or you will wear yourself out.

And I am not saying this with the confidence of a white boy with a podcast, but as something that I truly believe and have lived through.

And of course you need to be able to grow on youself too and take the feedback in. We have grown as coaches – and gladly we have gone to same direction. Its the direction of motivation before force and reason before the rules.

Jatta and I had many conversations about can we say ”team” wants something. Especially this happened when we had our annual player questionnaire on how everyones doing and how everyone thinks team is doing. The better we got on the pitch, the lower results our coaching got in team quiz. Quiz was done anonymously so that everyone get to have their say.

For me that showed the general will (in this case, teams will, maybe) to become even better and the grown hunger for development . Also I think that the threshold for giving feedback got lower (possibly a sign of safer environment) and many players started to care about the success and work more towards it. At the time it was hard to swallow - pill but looking back now I also think it means that when we left the team, there were people stepping up.

Our understanding of a team is wider than just the players. We wanted to be part of the team too on our way of coaching. Our goal was to everyone in the team feel safe. We both worked a lot to make the community safer and more fair place. And I think, in many points, we succeeded. These are my sweetest feedback moments, the moments when someone told that they feel good and welcomed to the team.

Creating safe spaces and environments means you have to take those discussion and you know what you are aiming for - or what you want to get rid of. Having that good club structure in place meant a lot for this too, as well as the fact that Jatta and I talked about our values and worked to be respective. In creating safety setting the boundaries is hard. We also worked hard to listen the players while trying to keep our own boundaries. I will never say to you that development only happens outside your comfort zone. Cause I believe that development happens when you belong and you feel safe and you have a goal to work for.

Creating safe spaces and environments means you have to take those discussion and you know what you are aiming for - or what you want to get rid of.

Closest thing to vision, half list form

I didnt take any courses on coaching so I did not have theory to back me up on things. Jatta spent more time educating herself. Then again I learned that trusting a friend, gut instict and players worked well. Lot of this went through self-doubt and led to development. I didn′t have a vision when I started, or at least I never wrote it down. But I know more know so here it goes.

I want people to understand why and then they decide how rather than making rules for every case. This is not the easiest way and especially not in a team where you have players with experience from none to close 20 years. But I also think this is the only way to gain more autonomous player-development.

Understanding that why:??One important thing for Jatta and me was that I ask a lot of whys. And those whys are neutral ” why did you choose this combo instead of this, please explain” not aggressive ”i think this was not a good thing, why would you do this, do my way”. This took us while to learn.

I want people to make mistakes, and know that they are allowed to those mistakes. And then develop from there and fix it. This has to do with safe playing environment too.

I want people to have fun or sense of accomplishment, in their own way, because otherwise it doesn′t really make sense to have a hobby like this.

And one important thing was to take time off and set boundaries when you need it – and have someone to have your back on those moments. And here comes the point on peer support: when it comes to assets, I think having peer-support is the one above all the others.

Next steps on coaching path

Now I will open up a stream, since nowdays Finnish rugby often have streams of the games. Then I am just gonna sit, watch and celebrate.

I will not try to analyse, take time stamps, try to identify shared characteristics that lead to certain situation/behavior. I will not try to identify strenghts and weaknesses or think of best gameplans, analyze which channels are weak or try to see which players read the game the same way. I will just sit, watch and celebrate.

I'd love my team(s) to know that I am here for them, and I will be cheering on the sideline and I am keenly following where they will take the game.

I also realised that some point I just assumed that something would come up with the coaching. And something might come up. Or then I make some sort of decision and start working towards it or decide to abandon the whole thing. So when it comes to "what's next" I just say that I don′t know. But see you on the sidelines.

But see you on the sidelines.

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