@Dan54 said in New All Black Coach:
@reprobate said in New All Black Coach:
@taniwharugby yup, though in NZ. I think my point is that you don't need a fancy coach to be a shitload better than where we are currently. Schoolkids do it better.
Shit reprobate, I think one of our problems is coaching at school kid level. I been gobsmacked at how structured out 1st XVs have become. I think because of top level schools are so focused on winning or whatever our kids are getting a lot of the flair coached out of them.
And unfortunately, I think from a couple of things I have seen watching some kids games it starts at a lot lower than that. I was watching a couple of kids training sessions at different times and places, and was pissed off seeing coaches yelling at kids about 10-12yo and getting them to bridge etc when ball was on ground, then spending a lot of times on lineouts etc just clinical. At that age I firmly believe kids should be learning how to pass ball , and just run towards gaps etc. I still think it not helping us in our skills with kids coming through.
Maybe I wrong, I always believed coaching kids is about how to and not why too. Show them how to pass, where to put ball on ground when tackled, how to pick and go. And the most important thing to teach them with breakdown is the safety factor, come in with head up and eys open, so they don't get hurt and go off the game. Just seems we have too many kids coaches who seem to think they coaching a senior team who's ONLY job is to win.
Lol ok my rant for day.
Agree that coaching basic skills to kids is more important Dan, though I do feel that a lot of our historic ability in pass/catch/run/look for space comes from the unstructured games of touch, league, bullrush etc rather than training. That's just what happens naturally.
Skills like the cross-kick and overhead catch come from AFL, kids who grow up with football are invariably superior kickers in all facets, basketball skills are great for accurate passing to moving targets, offloading and finding a way to get the ball to where it needs to be through traffic. These skills are all things that you don't get to a high standard from just playing rugby or practising lineouts and scrums - there are clear areas where specific training can quickly make a difference because the standard required at international rugby level is actually pretty low compared to the sports where these are core skills.
I do find it astonishing that professional sportspeople can't e.g. kick off a left foot - or in the case of many players, kick effectively at all. Such an easy skill to improve with basic repetition, and you can't go to the gym 24/7.
K
