Somerset Coaching Development

Contact paul.shepherd@somersetrfu.co.uk 

(Chair of the Coach Development Committee)


 
Somerset RFU Coaching Resource

Your club or school can now obtain a USB memory stick with a number of 'Games for Understanding' for use by your club coaches or class teachers.

Traditionally, technique has often been over-emphasised within practice sessions. While technique is an important part of the overall skill, it has often been taught in isolation using a drill, without requiring players to think and apply the techniques to the situations required in the game. This is like giving a person the pieces from a puzzle without showing them the picture on the lid. Where does this isolated practice fit the game? By using a game approach, players are challenged to think about what they are actually doing and why. Players can learn to use the appropriate technique at the right time and place, while under the pressure situations created by a game.

Somerset RFU have funded this initiative in conjunction with former Somerset RDO Nevil Jeffery. The resource contains ideas and sessions on ATTACK, DEFENCE, KICKING, LINEOUT, STRATEGIC and REACTIVE DECISION MAKING alongside games to benefit CONDITIONING.

To get your hands on one of these resources then your Club Coach Coordinator, Junior Chairman or Master in Charge of Rugby must send an email to paul.shepherd@somersetrfu.co.uk and then we will arrange delivery of the USB.

 


WHY COACH?

Coaching has many benefits, both for the individual and for the group on people that you work with.

You can teach them the value of sportsmanship and teamwork.
Not only that, but you really have a chance to make an impact on somebody’s life. It's a great feeling when you know that you bettered a life through coaching and mentoring.

One of the greatest benefits is helping these athletes grow into responsible men and women. As a junior coach we get a chance to teach them responsibility, discipline, camaraderie, and the value of truly giving your best effort.  Whilst many of these themes run into senior coaching, there is also the challenge of stretching players to become better than they thought possible.

Somerset has a number of representative teams at Age Grade and Senior level including:-

  • County Boys Squads at U17 and U18
  • County Girls Squads at U15 and U18
  • Senior Mens Squads at U20, Saxon and 1st XV
  • Senior Ladies Squad at 1st XV

To run these teams requires a great deal of man/woman power and we as a County are always looking for people to join the Volunteers and help move Somerset RFU forward.

If you are interested in becoming involved in coaching in Somerset please or have any questions regarding coaching at Club level please contact me and I will endeavour to help answer those questions.

 

If you are just interested in becoming a better club coach please click on the link below, it will take you to the RFU Coach Development Matrix.

Take me to the RFU Coaching Page 


Below is an exert from an article written by one of Englands greatest players. Read it, re read it - do you agree?
 
"When I started at 18, it took me God knows how long to just get a grip of what other guys were doing and what the game was about. Thinking just because you've played the game means you can become a coach is probably the biggest mistake there is.
 
"Coaching isn't about playing rugby, it isn't about taking what you did when you were playing rugby and showing other people how to do it, coaching is about support, man-management, it's about language, it's about all kinds of things - structuring sessions through to understanding acquisition of skills, mental fatigue, it's about understanding personalities, everything. I think that is going to take time.
 
He added: "A great coach, what he does is that he allows players to shoot as high as they can possibly get whilst bringing the floor up underneath them, so they are jumping higher to the marks and when you climb higher and higher up the scale it doesn't necessarily mean that you've got further to fall when it possibly goes slightly wrong. That's what great coaching is, it's about great support, it's about information.
"The best guys can do it all - they can provide the how to's as well as just being good people, good supporting people and getting to know people and giving these people a chance to feel great about themselves. You provide information which gives players power to do their job well, but then you support them which gives them confidence in themselves and their ability to go out there are shoot for 10 out of 10, rather than going out without the support and thinking they will try and hang in there at seven or eight without making any mistakes."