Junior coaching

WARNING: Long read

Havn't coached juniors for over 2 years now, and when I did it was mainly around Gwent and was U16's level, so forgive me if I am being a bit off...

I took my 9 yr old godson to watch an U11's team play this morning, he generally has played football up to now, and run athletics and has represented Cardiff and the Vale in both football and sprints, so he's a very athletic, very confident 9 yr old boy (can't help but be as he takes every race very seriously and wins everything every sports day)

He has been eager to play rugby for months now, his best freind plays, and his cousin of the same age plays, but as I live on the wrong side of Newport I have been reluctant to commit to getting him to training and matches every week, until now.

Enough nagging is enough, he has most kit, but didn't want to turn up without some nice kit, so yesterday I took him shopping and picked up the basics ('No your not having £45 skins, No your not having a £50 lions shirt, No you have boots for now, No you don't need armour') and this morning we went to the rugby club for him to observe a match, meet his best freind, and hopefully meet the coach and get him excited about his first training session.

As it happened there was a schedule change and the 11's weren't playing but the 13's were having a tournament, so as we were there I said we could stay and watch. At first I was very glad we did, watching his face as he watched near 6' 13 yr old boys, getting manhandled by much smaller versions, there was some excellent talent on display, some great skill in boggy conditions, and some very fierce tackling. I could tell by his emotions there was a mixture of pure excitement, nerves and a bit of adrenalin too.

Until we began to watch a certain team and the actions of their 'coach'...

This team were being beaten by the home side, not badly, but enough to know they were just out muscled, these kids did little wrong initially, they were just smaller and bullied a bit, it happens, on a huge scale and sometimes you just know they will struggle. However this wasn't good enough for the coach, he screamed, yelled, intimidated and essentially bullied his own team into playing better. At one scrum he yelled at his tighthead to get his poxy shoulder up or he's coming off, he then berated the FB for missing a tackle etc etc... My godson turned white, but I explained some coaches are rubbish, and I'd never let him play for a 'rudeword' such as that, and that he'd only play for a good coach!!

I dragged him away from that coach to watch another game on the other pitch, and as soon as we got there the two teams were having a bit of a scuffle, nothing serious, nothing nasty just an argy bargy push type thing. One of the players got pushed over during, at which point a different coach started yelling at the player not on his team 'you picked the wrong kid you silly billy, he'll duff you up' The same player then conceded a penalty later on for a late hit (50/50 in my book but I see why the ref wanted to ping it to discourage others). At the end of the match this coach marched up to the ref complainging about number 6 who was dirty, kept pushing players, and he was disgusting, the whole time the coach stared at the 13 yr old kid as if to try to get a reaction. This incident almost made me stand in and say something but for my godsons sake I just diverted his attention from it.

I must say both occasions all kids involved were very gracious, dealt with the situations well, and were brilliantly behaved, except the whole drive home my godson couldn't stop asking me questions about wether his coach would shout at him, can the coach hit him if he does something wrong etc...

Very sad occasion for myself, and I hope he doesn't have any morons coaching him next week. I need to ask though, is it me, am I getting older and soft or are there a lot of plonkers out there dealing with kids???

Behaviour like that shouldn't be tolerated. Hopefully the organisers of the tournament would have reported the coach to the club or the wru.
Of course you're going to get idiots coaching but you also get some real stars! you'd hope the parents would move their kids to another club.

The RFU issued, at the beginning of the season, a strongly worded letter about ensuring respect for the referee and opposition at junior and mini level especially It basically stated the club was held to be responsible for the behaviour of the parents and coaches at all fixtures, and if a complaint was made and upheld the club for be punished.

I would hope the WRU would be as equally strong and supportive and if so a gentle reminder to the chairman of the clubs involved would be all that was required to remind the coaches of their responsibilities.

I get quite emotive coaching my u9s but I would never berate them in the manner you described above. The coach's role is to discipline, yes, but mainly to teach, guide and advise. You can't do that if you're bawling at a 12 year old......

pharmachris wrote:Behaviour like that shouldn't be tolerated. Hopefully the organisers of the tournament would have reported the coach to the club or the wru.
Of course you're going to get idiots coaching but you also get some real stars! you'd hope the parents would move their kids to another club.

The RFU issued, at the beginning of the season, a strongly worded letter about ensuring respect for the referee and opposition at junior and mini level especially It basically stated the club was held to be responsible for the behaviour of the parents and coaches at all fixtures, and if a complaint was made and upheld the club for be punished.

I would hope the WRU would be as equally strong and supportive and if so a gentle reminder to the chairman of the clubs involved would be all that was required to remind the coaches of their responsibilities.

I get quite emotive coaching my u9s but I would never berate them in the manner you described above. The coach's role is to discipline, yes, but mainly to teach, guide and advise. You can't do that if you're bawling at a 12 year old......

I have to say though, I wouldn't want coaches to be muted totally, I was investigated a few years ago for 'disrespecting the ref' 'bringing the game into disrepute' and 'telling my players to clatter the ref'...

I was accused by a ref, A REF!!! of telling my players to clatter him so he couldn't see what was happening, to fight with the opposing team, and constantly barraging him with abuse throughout the game, at an U15's game 3 years ago in Cardiff...

What was amazing is that I laughed and joked with both ref and opposing coaches, pre game, at half time and post game about how I had no voice and couldn't do much actual coaching (turned out to be my salvation, as did the opposing coaches who generously turned up to my adjudication to support me)

Ref had a bit of a mare of a first half, obstructed our 9 a few times then got bumped over a ruck as he was stood over the ball on our side (honest mistake) then a scuffle broke out as an opposing 9 smacked the back of our 8's head after he had scored a try, and a word was needed by myself to a fan who was making too much noise and saying derogatory things to the ref.

Amazingly he saw fit to report me 9am the morning after, and I found out one of our parents asked his name and details post game to make a complaint ( )

Anyway I was refunded my fine, backed up by opposing coaches, and the CSO who turned up on his behalf to back his claims up finally admitted to not attending the game.

So I like to see passionate coaches, they can inspire passionate players and play, but I can say the next time I see a coach berate a CHILD on his side or opponents I will not bite my tongue and he will get a lashing (especially from a 6'5 110kg guy) and will be reported!!!

Both my sons played yesterday in festivals with 1 at Guildford U10s and the other in the Surrey U12As at Dorking. Of course you often see very passionate coaches and parents screaming at the boys and there should be admonishment if it goes too far. Encouragment is fine and of course there should not be ticking off for bad play. The difficult area is that of berating the ref, which is common place. Sometimes you cannot help shouting out when an opposition player comes round the ruck in an offside position and clatters your scrum half, but mostly this is kept in proportion. I think there was talk of a yellow card scheme for supporters and coaches who go too far, but I have not seen anyone shown such a card even when a few have deserved it.

I gave up refing etc with these junior set ups years ago

The reaction from parents and some coaches was way over the top.

Bluesman:
Sadly you dont have to travel to Newport to see this sort of thing.

"The less a coach knows, the more sure they are that they know everything"

Just found this article and I have to say I am disgusted by this sort of behavior at any level no more so than U11s. Really sets the game back volumes.

Was it Jose Mourinho who said of I spend all the time shouting how am I supposed to hear the problems and fix them

as a 3rd year youth player I guess I can give a small outlook (although this is an old thread)
having had a variety of coaches over the years there are many different styles. one of the most effective ones was a coach I had in my first year of youth, at training he would swear and curse you if you got things wrong and would make you do laps for dropping the ball etc, basically a real b*stard. however the most unnerving thing was match days where he was silent he just stood behind the goal post during the match, gave a talk at half time and that was it. if you had a bad game or did something stupid you could feel his eyes burning into you, but one of the best feelings was when he praised you or gave you a pat on the back. I guess he was a bit like Dr Cox of Scrubs.

of course being youth players we were all fairly used to swear words and stuff but in terms of junior rugby the best coaches were the ones who got involved in the banter and made you feel part of a team. all the coaches also had a fantastic knowledge of the game and one is now backs coaches of the 1st team and is a legend who everyone within the club loves and respects