Are You Watching PRO Rugby? You Should Be...

So, I started writing this blog with the intent to impresses you with stats and fancy infographics to show you how well researched my support was for PRO Rugby in their inaugural season.

You're not going to get that blog.

From here on I'm just going to write in the perspective of a fanboy.

I love PRO Rugby. Yes, I know it's not at the quality of Super Rugby or the Aviva Premiership, but I don't care because we have professional rugby in America. The teams here lack the mounds of data that their foreign friends have about in-game decision making, possession, and other countless aspects of the game that they collect data on, but again this is a good thing.

What they have given us 4 weeks into the season is some high scoring, fast, and at times incredibly exciting rugby. This is exactly what we need to create buzz and buy in from the rugby loving community, the casual fans and newcomers to the sport. We are also developing domestic stars that we can watch week in and week out. Players like John Quill, Mike Te'o (he has been around for a minute I know, but he is new to some that don't follow the game as closely), and Will Magie are making names for themselves and again are fun to watch.

Yes, I know there are areas that can and should be improved upon and it is easy to be critical of them. These come with starting a new league and fixing them will ultimately decide if this league is meant to last or just be blip on the timeline of rugby in America. Regardless of what happens in the future, we should just enjoy what is happening right now, players and teams playing exciting and professional rugby here in America.

How & Why You Need to Coach 'Why?'

No matter what walk of life you come from you have heard "Why?" You could be a parent and have fielded that question hundreds, if not millions, of times from your wee beastling, or at work from an employee or peer. The question 'why?' is everywhere in our lives, yet we struggle to incorporate it in the one place we are most passionate about.

Coaching.

But why?

Why Not Why?
We struggle to bring 'why' into our teams or sport for a variety of reasons. We have the obvious reason that we ourselves, in our former lives as athletes, were not use to asking why to the coach. If you came from football, you are familiar with the conversation that happens among team mates;

Player 1: "Hey, why are we doing this?"

Player 2: "Because coach said to do it."

Then you did it with no questions. You often did it so many times you didn't have to think about doing it let a long the reason for why you were doing it. We are also love our X's and O's and the simplicity of knowing what step we were in the process of the play. You knew the overall reason of why you were running the play, to score or to stop them from scoring, but we never really knew why the whole process was set-up the way it was. Both of those things are the reason why we are a nation of emerging (that is a polite way of saying slightly better than average) coaches. We have a bad coaching culture. We are trapped in a cycle of "Because I said so" or "We've always done it this way" that has lasted for generations of coaches. These traits are passed down through the coaching tree because it once worked in the 60's for that one coaching great. Those two statements above might have worked for coaches in the past but now, we are dealing with different kinds of athletes.

Information Overload is one Reason Why...
The last two generation of players no longer respond to the old "Because I said to do it this way" mindset. Athletes, heck ALL of us, have the answer to any question at our fingertips. Think about it, any question you have can be answered by the internet and that is everywhere all the time.

Boom! In your face, sucka!

The traditional path of information gathering, which includes trusting our coaches, is obsolete. Even you as the coach are constantly looking for the reason of why. When you see a move,  or technique on TV, the internet, or from an opposing team your first thought is usally "Holy shit that was awesome!" quickly followed by the important question "Why did they do that?"

This takes us down the information rabbit hole, it starts with a few scribbles on a notepad, then a google search, followed by a few YouTube videos, and then maybe an actual coaching website with a fee. You do all of this in the search for the answer of why they did it and you come to your own conclusions.

Now, do a bit of personal reflection. How do you present it to your team? Does the process include why they are doing it?

How to Coach the Why

There is no one right way to achieve coaching the why. The important thing is to coach it and coach it well. Below is a quick list of ways I've been able to coach it successfully;

Coach it like a boss, son!

- Before you plan your session stop and ask yourself 'Why are we doing this?'. Whatever the conclusion is, make sure it is included in your brief to the squad. Why they are doing it should be a short and clear presentation lasting no more then 30 seconds. This will help with not over explaing it and losing the focus of the group.

- Make sure you include it in your practice plan. Use it as a question to your team and see what you get back. This is often a good way to see it from a different point of view. It also gives you an idea of how well you're explaning it to them. Don't forget to listen, they might teach you something.

- Highlight why you are doing something on film. Look for examples, either in your games or pro games, and draw attention to it. Don't just explain one point or action but expand on it to include how it effected the next couple of phases. Film doesn't lie so it is a great tool to catch real time results of what you coached in the week building up to match day. Create a dialogue around the why of an action.

- Make asking why a part of your coaching staff's culture. You should be looking to constantly develop yourself and the coaches around you. You would be kidding yourself if you thought you and your staff had all the right answers, and this is often a death blow to a team who's staff  share that mindset. Encourage your coaches to ask why of you and each other in a constructive way. This has often brought some good debate and new ideas to an old technique that made players and coaches alike better.

Regardless of how you get there, never forget to coach the why. We as a whole need to change our coaching culture and it starts by creating a positive dialect between players and coaches on why we are doing the things we do on the pitch. These are different athletes now, so we need to be different coaches.

See you pitch side

Hey you American, you're going to cheer for the Eagles right?!

By this point we have all seen the blog to not wear the fern at the USA v All Blacks game next Saturday. I agree with it, I think that stadium should be top to bottom red, white and blue. I also read the comment section and was bothered by how many people dislike the Eagles for this, that and the other. One comment really struck a cord with me, "I don't have a reason to cheer for the USA". That really grinds my gears, what does that even, 'you don't have a reason'!?! If you are like that person, here are 3 good reasons why you should be wearing a USA Kit come November 1st.

1. You're a red blooded, flag waving, star spangle banner loving American!
No, I hate to tell you this, you're not Irish, or Italian, or any other foreign nationality you claim to be. If you're mother birthed your beautiful mug in an America hospital you are 100% American. Bottom line. Embrace it, celebrate it for all the majestic bad assery it is.

"But, we aren't good at the rugbys."

Duh.

This isn't about winning, this is about backing something bigger than you, and creating something that could impact our sport FOREVER. We need to create hype my friend! That is something this sport desperately needs to be noticed in the American sporting conscious and there is no better way to do this then to make it look like the stadium is packed full of American loving rugby fans!

2. You have more in common with those Eagle's on the field than those All-Blacks.
A large portion of that team are still 9-5'ers, like you, they go away on weekend trips for their club team and miss birthdays, work, social events, just like you. They do not get thousands of dollars to play, a sporting good store worth of free kit, or any of the other perks that the All-Blacks collect every tour. Most likely you've played against some of the Eagles, recently, in our club season. How many New Zealanders can say that about the AB's? Which leads me to the next point...





3. The Upset
No, its not crazy talk, but an honest to god possibility. It is always a possibility, its why sports are the greatest form of reality television because sometimes it is better than any script. You can also call on the 1980 USA Hockey team as a great example. They were smoked by the Ruskies before that event, but then suddenly they came out like freedom loving Americans and got the W when it counted. Sure, the Soviets would have beaten us 9 out of 10 times but to be apart of that 1 magical game, as a player or fan, is why you should be rooting for the Eagles. Think about it, its the 79th minute and the USA is holding onto a very slim lead, the All-Blacks clearly aren't themselves ( a case of the flu possibly), or the combination of playing in a NFL stadium,  the cold lake Michigan wind and loud American crowd (We do beat every country in the 'ear drum bursting loud crowd' department). Then you hear it, the final whistle, and solider field erupts into pandemonium. You look around, all of your fellow Americans are celebrating like its NYE and then there is you, dressed in black. In the true spirit of rugby people will offer you their condolences "good game, the sun shines on the dog's ass every now and again, it was a fluke, it won't ever happen again in our lifetime*" and then you will have to look at the ground, jam your hands in your pockets, and awkwardly explain that you're an American rugby player and you've never been happier too, all while avoiding eye contact. Don't be that guy...

Most likely the eagles will lose this game, I know it, they know it and so do you. If this was a club game, fine root for the winner with the bigger and better roster but this isn't a club game. This is America and you are an American rugby player damnit! These are your brothers from the pitch and they need you to just bring it in Chicago!

How YOU can help the national team be successful

Let me start by saying this is not a fundraising plea, its much more important. This is about how you, as a coach, can have help the Eagles win. We all think we can do it, coach an international side, how hard can it really be? Truth be told we are part of the problem. We are just as responsible for these outcomes as the players and coaches on the field. Why? Because we are responsible for teaching players the fundamental skills of the game (passing/catching, tackling, rucking, decision making and communication). Bottom line we are the one tasked with developing these players at the grass roots level and we are failing them and our national side.

I've had the pleasure of working with high performance teams for a couple years now. I've also had the pleasure of talking, watching, and learning from foreign coaches who are closing in on their countries top spots. The one thing they agree on, and I'm starting to believe, is we as Americans look great in a rugby jersey but that is as close to an actual rugby player we get. We lack the fundamental skills needed for rugby. In my opinion, for what its worth, its starts with how we are taught in our sporting youth. Most of us only know one way to think, in X's and Os, and we are drilled until we can not screw it up (seriously, its been over a decade since I last played a down of football and I still can remember the proper footwork for a trap block). Our popular sports here are controlled by plays, plans, and diagrams. This hurts us in free flowing games like soccer, rugby and other international sports.

We as coach fail in two areas. The first being fundamentals, our players struggle with the basics. We must do a better job teaching the skills from the list above. We often let 'star' players get away with bad habits because of who they are. I'm telling you right now, I've seen it with my own two eyes, your star player will not cut it in any high performance camp. Everyone is a star there and what divides the have's from the have not's is the execution of the fundamentals. The second problem area works in conjunction with the first, overly complicated game plans. We spend too much time at training sessions trying to come up with the secret formula for the win. Recently, I overheard a team that had broken the field into FIVE sections, from sideline to sideline, to help with ID'ing of space for their attack. Could you imagine being fatigued and trying to determine if the half gap is in two or three? The problem here is we are sacrificing time that could be spent on skill development for things that hardly ever get used in the game because at the end of the day, if your covert double screen, switch, loop, wing crash attack play is going to work it all depends on your squads ability to pass and catch.

So what can we do to get better?  Well, for starters educate yourself with videos, articles, and knowledge from other coaches. Start to develop your own style by taking things you like, applying them and getting rid of the stuff you don't. Second, video tape one of your sessions. Focus the camera not on the actual players and the drills, but you. Watch how you speak to them (and for how long) also watch their reactions. Are you clearly telling them what part of the skill your working before their attention is lost? Finally, don't be afraid to learn and coach new things. Don't get stuck telling yourself "this is how I've done it and this is how I will keep doing it". Since the game has gone professional coaches have come up with all sorts of new skills and patterns. They have also started to borrow teaching techniques from the education systems that have really helped to impact and accelerate the learning curve of their players.

What do you think? Anything you want to add?