In which case, I would leave this sort of pass alone and concentrate on general ball handling skills. Let the players work out the passing solutions for themselves perhaps.

Personally I have not "coached" the circle pass in a training session for at least 13 years, and I can remember the last day I taught it - it was a Surrey County U16 session and it didn't really work out.

Since then, I have only used it as a "natural" move in a backs move or not even called it a circle ball when forwards wrap around the fly half.

In summary I don't think it is unique to women's rugby. The other problems of newcomers and old hands are more endemic and I will be interested to hear others' views...

Passing is a skill that can be learned by repetition, but the best drill I've found is to start off slow walking and passing, speeding up as ability increases and gradually building in 'passing in traffic'.  By this I mean the introduction of opposition (actually another line, passing to itself, passing through the original line, going the opposite direction).  The object is to enable players to pass to their own line while other players are 'interfering' merely by their presence.  The ability to pick a target in traffic and get the ball to it is no mean feat and is certainly a skill worth practising.

The transition occurs over a period of training nights, not in the first session.  It is amazing how, over a period of time, players can become quite fluent in the catch pass procedure and, with encouragement, become fluent in approaching the passing position so that they can pass off the 'right' foot without thought.

Hopefully my enthusiasm in my first post hasn't confused the issue entirely, but I suppose the point is to start simple, get that right, then progress.

regards

Mark

The main difference I've found is not skill levels but the levels of questioning as to "why" something is being done.  Men on the whole tend to accept the task or drill being undertaken and then "question" it afterwards by lacking enthusiasm for it or muttered comments under their breath.  women on the other hand tend to do all their questions up front and once convince are often much harder trainers - mainly cos they know why they're doing it.

I took this into my male coaching and started to anticipate "what would the women ask" and suprisingly although the men didn't ask it their levels of commitment went up when I'd given them some of the "answers" the women would demand.

In terms of specific drills I agree with dan that these issues can affect any team - men or women - and at any level.  I've coached very good men and they have issues with many of the basics.  lets face it Wales' grand slam team in 2005 had Scott Johnson employed to work on just basic skills so even the best have their problems in these areas.

Basically i laid out two rows of cones, each 2 metres apart and each row 10 metres apart. I paired new/inexperienced players with more seasoned players, got them opposite each other on opposing cones and simply got them passing of off each hand to other, the seasoned player was then able to explain where the other was going wrong. I also drummed into them that the ball will go where their hands are facing, so if the hands end up facing to the sky that is where the ball is going, this seemed to help enormously.

By the end of the evening simple grids and even soem switch passign was working a treat at all levels.

On the first point, I start a training session (after warmup) with a short 'daily technique element' where we break down a particular skill to its basic parts and emphasise them.  For spin passing, it's the ball on the hip, one hand thrust and twist to receiver's hands.  Newbies with newbies, vets with vets so they can push each other further than, say, a vet was with a newbie.  Move to doing more active drills at a high tempo (footwork, running and passing lines, support, etc.), and with those isolated skills in mind, move onto a more dynamic element that requires them to combine many, if not all (touch, game scenarios with conditioned defence, etc.)

The women I've coached in the last few years have loved that format.  The newbies appreciate the technique and drill elements to gain feedback, reminded the vets that they can always strive to be 'more perfect.'  And the vets love the dynamic elements ... but there's more research (good article on the RFU community rugby page - sorry, can't think of the title or author, but was second half of last year) to suggest that we all will acquire skill and understanding quicker via experiential learning - ie. doing it and figuring it out as we go.  Kind of like language emmersion, where you pick it up through necessity.

I'm of the mind that women can learn any complicated skill, and even more quickly than men, if you've structured the learning process in a logical way - from theory to application.  I've varied this approach, using diagrams, video, walking through moves over and over talking about timing and body position - before going half pace then full, letting newbies watch vets a few times and then ask them to talk through what they're seeing ... etc. etc.  Why I stick with the women's game is that they tend to opt for intelligence and skill over power and pace, and you can see the results of your dedicated coaching more quickly, making it more fun and rewarding.

So rather than 'having a go' as men seem to prefer, women (to me) appreciate structure and not just a rationale for what's about to happen, but regular contructive and positive feedback on their progress.  But on that issue, remember that women are more social and can be more sensitive, so doing so should not centre them out as especially newbies are self-conscious about not being as good as others.  Don't want to scare them off for not being 'good enough'.  I didn't want to be patronising thinking that I had to be 'softer' with women, but read that you have to take at least a more sympathetic approach.  That and a lot of good discussion on coaching women came from a good book of topical essays by some of the top female coaches in the US called She Can Coach, by Cecile Renaud.