Mike Singletary is the head coach of the San Francisco 49er’s NFL American Football team. His articulate rant after last week’s devastating defeat to the Seattle Seahawks has made him a cult figure in San Francisco. If he ran for mayor this week he would probably be elected. His honesty in [...]
Entries from October 2008
October 26, 2008
General Sir Mike Jackson on leadership, empowerment and team-play.
General Sir Mike Jackson knows about leading people. An army man for 45 years, the British Army General has headed up the British forces in Iraq for the last 3 and a half years. Now, whatever you may feel about the war, or indeed the British army, I think this can [...]
October 22, 2008
4 Ways to Encourage Attacking Rugby
1) Enjoy it. We play rugby because we love the game. We enjoy it even more when we get our hands on the ball make a play or create space for the players around us. Encourage your players, 1 to 15, to get their hands on the ball and enjoy their rugby. It will take [...]
October 21, 2008
Fixing things in the huddle.
As a coach, if something needs to be fixed in the heat of the game the ideal approach is to keep your message as simple and concise as possible, sugared with some encouragement and praise. Rarely can a player perform so badly that there is nothing positive to be said. If your team is losing [...]
October 14, 2008
Keeping the head in the final minutes.
11th February 2007. Croke Park, Dublin.
Ireland v France. A historic day that deserves a big result with Ireland only seconds away from kick-starting their campaign for a Grand Slam. Ronan O’Gara has just punted them into a 4 point lead with one play left. I fIreland secure the ball they win.
Then this happened.
[...]
October 13, 2008
Josh Lewsey knocks-out Danny Cipriani in training. What is all the fuss about?
This post is for the people who read the tabloids and don’t fully understand the realities of rugby as a sport.
Rugby is a physical, emotionally-charged sport. Like boxing, it appears violent and wild but in reality it is a highly disciplined and technical game that thrives on confrontation. The game is played on the edge [...]
October 7, 2008
Make your own Isotonic Sports Drink.
Hydration. We know its important, yet it is an aspect of training and matches that many of our players neglect. In my own experience, relying on your players to camel their own water to training can be a lost cause, especially with younger players-all they want to do is play a bit of ball.
Change the [...]
October 6, 2008
How does Mike Cron coach the All-Blacks’ scrum?
Mike Cron is considered to be THE scrum doctor. This clip, taken from allblacks.com shows Mike working with some of the best forwards in the world. Listen to how he carries himself and how he speaks with his players. He is full of praise when a player executes a correct technique [...]
October 1, 2008
Coaching attacking rugby. Keep it fun, keep it simple.
Coaches are facilitators. They enable their players to play the game. A coach is not a programmer, the players or not robots.
This philosophy is essential in spreading the gospel on the frontier lines of world rugby. If Rugby is to ever compete with soccer and other global sports the key is to make the game [...]
