Coaching

There are a number of factors in the game that might cause teens to disengage from rugby, but coaches have a disproportionate impact on the overall experience. The coach acts as conduit enabling improvement and forging team culture.

“Dad is a dork! And he doesn’t know jack about rugby because when he played it was different. He last played the game twenty years ago. And he can’t make me better which is what I want to do. So, I want a coach that makes me better and they are current, and he knows his stuff. Dad’s alright up to 13 but once we get to adolescence – he’s a dork. He will tell my mates off… we don’t want him doing that.”

This statement probably sums up this chapter fairly well, but let’s tease it out a bit because not all Dads are dorks and at high school most teens are still coached by teachers or others that aren’t classified as Dad.

If a player has a negative experience at practice – the coach will have to fight hard to regain their trust and respect – when it comes to snubs teenagers have long memories. Teens will tell you about the time they were bawled out and how it made them feel. Its important coaches understand the way you make teens feel remains tattooed on their subconscious for a long time and will dictate how they feel and react in subsequent experiences.

“Well my dad was the coach, but he wasn’t really an avid rugby fan. He just did it because we were playing, and he had done it for my older brother and his older brother, there are 6 boys in the family, so he has done it for a few of them, and so he kept the tradition.”

“If feedback is said constructively and not with any malice then it’s ok – if it’s not negatively said, like if it’s going to help him learn what he has done wrong and fix it then it’s ok.”

“A good coach is supportive – like when you muck up and you miss a tackle and they teach you to learn from it, tell you how to do better or something.”

Teens actively seek out and engage in discipline as a means to improve skills and provide a structured environment that creates a cohesive team.

However, there is a line that can be crossed, and teens are clear on the difference. If a coach is too competitive and winning becomes more important than rewarding effort and a battle well fought, teens will be turned off.

Don’t underestimate the impact of a negative experience.

Teens want very good coaches, while rugby administrators just want any coach - they have teams to fill, skill development can come later. Well, if these kids leave the sport because of substandard coaching - it will be too late!

“I don’t care how good they are – if they are available they are in. Are you available at 3:30pm each Tuesday and Thursday? Great – you are in!”

It was ironic then, when an administrator was asked to share their view of success, they replied: “Every kid that plays rugby this year comes back next year.”

Teens are actively seeking more professional coaches, rather than a Dad with little coaching experience who turns up and makes them run drills.

“I have been coached by Dad for the last six years, we live out of town, it takes 30 mins to get to training or a game, on the way in Dad talks about what we are going to do and on the way home what was wrong with this kid or that. We do the same on Thursday but this time it’s about the game plan and who trained well, then we go to the game on Saturday and it’s all the same rugby, rugby, rugby… and I want to tell Dad to stop but I don’t know how, but I can stop all this if I just don’t play.”

Teens just want to be a better rugby player! How they are taught is completely different to how it was 20 years ago. They have inquiring minds and are accustomed to being involved in the decision-making process.

How do we let all these well-meaning parents know they might not be doing the best thing for their child in sport? I believe fixing the coaching issue is the most logical place to start and would have a huge impact in keeping young people in the game.

Teens said they wanted a coach they could look up to, someone with qualifications and experience who could bring players closer together and help each player and the team do their best each week.

The pivotal requirement is praising effort and not result. The result is something outside of your control and is an external reward. Effort is what defines your experience and is internally driven.

Coaches are the centre of the universe for the teens in the rugby playing world – they rely on coaches to help improve skills, provide support and act as the go-to person with issues connected with rugby. Teens want the complete package.

We talked to coaches for the sake of research too. They told us they have difficulty in meeting all the players’ needs with many saying they did not have the skill set, resources and support needed to deal with the personalities and problems some teens brought from home to the training ground.

There are also concerns about high school coaches’ ability and availability. Upskilling inexperienced coaches is time consuming and skilled coaches need incentives to stay on.

According to some teachers and coaches, teenagers are the most challenging demographic, which makes our coaches’ jobs equally challenging.

Rugby coaches are key to make teens’ rugby experiences enjoyable and gratifying. But not only do they help teens have fun and become skilled rugby players, coaches also help guide them through some of the formative years of their life.

Rugby coaches help teens develop resilience, cope with disappointment, learn from mistakes, and adjust strategies. These are all important aspects of developing initiative and core skills, which teens will use in all aspects of life - on and off the field.

New Zealand Rugby believes coach education is vital in providing the best possible training for young players and introduced a compulsory Teenage Coaching Module to support coaches and help them develop their skills and knowledge.

“What coaches do keeps them in the game!”