Coaching communication in junior rugby union drills.
The Importance of Communication in Rugby Union
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Rugby union is one of the team games where communication is important at all levels and this can be effectively shown in junior rugby.
I am a coach of my local clubs under 13’s team, I have two sons’ both of whom play rugby, one for the above team and the other plays for the under 15’s team and one of the major problems I encounter is teaching players to communicate.
Every coach should be able to identify lack of communication and demonstrate the importance of this element of the game. So how do we identify and improve communication?
The answer is simple; Communicate ourselves!
#1, Encourage noise at training ie; when warming up get the players to count or chant out loud, give each player a number and as they jog up and down the pitch get them shouting out there number in order. This will help them to focus on what everybody else is shouting and teach them when to shout. When doing grid training where the team is split up into smaller groups to practice in small grids select one of the players to organise and conduct the drill and swop this responsibility around so that all the players get a chance to organise the drill.
IMPORTANT!
Always keep control of the training programme this can be done by using a whistle to stop drills and simply agreeing a keyword that only you should say that when shouted, all players will stop what they are doing and listen to you.
Always encourage comments from players throughout the training session, ask open questions that avoid a “yes” or “no” answer ie; What went well/ not well and what can we do to improve what we are doing.
Communication is equally important during a match especially at half time to find out how the players feel about the way the match is going and suggestions can be made on how to improve performance during the second half.
Communication is so important in life, it should be second nature to everybody, it can make you feel good, it can make you feel bad, but for sure it brings everybody closer.
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