Perspective of a Rugby Director- top 4 tips

The Situation

Independent schools invest vast amounts of money in employing past or professional rugby coaches to help deliver a successful programme. This is of paramount importance to the schools as they run as a business and are up against fierce competitor schools that all demand a presence in the national schools market by using rugby as an additional product to education and a draw card to attract many more customers (Students). There are parents that see independent schools as the pathway of choice for their kids to follow. It could be for many reason such as they attended the school or it is a better product offering that is suited for their kids. Speaking to many sporting interested parents, it is without doubt that sport and in particular rugby is a deciding factor of what school they would consider sending their son too.

The Pressure Cooker

This places a lot of pressure on the coaches or Director of Rugby's in the school. We are seen as an "capable other" and the expert of the rugby programme for the school where key stakeholders (students, parents, coaches, governors) in the school all rely on your expertise to make the correct decisions and to have a fruitful curriculum. However, there is so much more to being a coach than meets the eye. A real problem in our industry is that us coaches are often judged solely on results such as win loss ratio often forgetting about the intrinsic values coached to the students. Furthermore, really good coaches are often fired, ridiculed or slated by others if they don't get the win on the score bored. This is a shame as every rugby environment is unique with its own set of challenges and barriers.

Challenges of a Coach

I find it only appropriate to share my most significant challenge that is out of my control that I have experienced in the last 5 years and then will offer some insight of how I have attempted to overcome it. I do feel this will ring true to many experienced and up and coming coaches. My main challenge is that I have a very small boys playing base of students as we have a school role of approximately 450 with half of them being girls and the junior school. We come up against "giant" independent day schools and all boys boarding schools that have triple our numbers. However, the last couple of years have been very successful for us as we have won the majority of games at all age groups against the opposition we have played. Currently, we have 8 boys in the various national age grade programmes. Speaking from experience and my perspective, here is what I believe has made us successful.

1-Don't be Lonely- Don't isolate yourself and become lonely. Coaching is a social process, embrace it with your players, coaches and parents. This will inevitably lead to strong relationships with all three and a key requirement for all involved to share in the journey. I also believe, find at least another coach you can trust and who is the same or if not better than you. This will allow you to discuss technicalities of the game, challenge your existing practice and always a useful tool to have another perspective on things. I call this the partnership of job.

2- Coach the hell out of them and be ruthless- You must be prepared to coach the players on and off the pitch. When pitch side, don't hold back, throw everything at them and challenge them to be the best. Make sure your team and players are competent in all aspects of the game. I see too many coaches being attack or defence focused. Rugby is multifaceted and interrelated and the best chance you have of winning as a team is to make sure your team is good at all aspects of the game such at attack, defence, kicking and set piece to name a few. Don't neglect any aspect and be prepared to do CPD to better your understanding of areas you are weak in. Off the pitch, the squad should be working hard on S&C, be prepared to do video analysis, individual development plans and behind the scenes work to prepare your individuals and team cohesion. As a result your players will be prepared and confident to perform. On and off field coaching helps players make the connection that you are invested in their improvement, ultimately leading to more buy in from them going forward. I call this your coaching expertise.

3- Understand your environment (coaches, players, parents)- Make sure you understand your environment and the challenges ahead. Work hard to identify what is not working and propose solutions and recommendations to stakeholders of how to fix them. Be prepared to work with other sports such as hockey and cricket, respect their discipline and the pull they may have on certain players. By understanding how everything works, you will have a better chance of implementing the right processes going forward. Be patience and give any changes you make the chance to develop as you initially expected. I call this the knowledge of your domain.

4- Be a "good owe"- Put your ego aside and coach for the right reasons. When making decisions, put the team, the players and the school first while avoiding doing it for selfish reasons. Appreciate others no matter what role they have have within your organisation such as the ground staff, bus drivers, catering and administrators. You will then feel the momentum and culture shift towards everyone wanting your programme to do well and they will show a keen interest in helping you improve in those areas.- I call this the Interpersonal skills of the job.

My coaching success is shown in a model format