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RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

wingingit — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:53:08 GMT

I have a team that half of them have difficulty speaking. I found that the problem isn't that they don't want to talk but as a lone voice they find it a little embarrassing.

I found this helped. Split your team up into groups 5 or 6 with a ball. Get them to stand in close, shoulder to shoulder, hands out ready to catch the ball. When the ball is passed/popped to a player they all must say the players name. You will need to encourage them at first and keep reminding them to pass the ball quickly.

When they are doing this well, get two groups to going together. This also works wonders if you have new team members. Everyone learns names fast.

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

mykythesupercoach — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:48:59 GMT

have you tried team building exercises? alot of teams don't do these when new players join the team.

we as coaches know that good communication is vital between a team and in my experience a lack of communication from one player suggests he is uncomfortable with shouting or even normal communication.

my advice is to try find games that are not necessarily rugby based but more...team based/trust based. Outdoor instructors like my self have to find ways of making kids that have never met each other before trust each other with their lives and safety when climbing. communication is a transferable skill. grab the local phone book and call outdoor centres around you and see if you can get any advice or perhaps a volunteer outdoor instructor could pop down. alternatively the DIY solution...

outdoor educationalists like me swear by this book for all thier ideas!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silver-Bullets-Initiative-Adventure-Activities/dp/084035682X

also break down barriers between them... get them touching each other making contact make them trust each other. think outside the rugby box for sport skills that are generic amongst other sports.

Myky

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

thevideoanalyst — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:19:48 GMT

I am never a big fan of just asking players to talk for the sake of it, I think it makes the whole situation worse as players feel arkward because they have to talk in drills even though there is really no need.

I think you need to make players feel comfortable talking first. Here is a drill I use to try and encourage players to talk. I hope I can explain it.

Divide your players into 2/3 teams with even numbers on each team. Get each team to stand in a line (one behind the other about arms length apart). The first player on each team has a ball. The idea is for each team to get the ball to the end of their line, rather than just passing it any way they choose the first player needs to turn to the right and pass on the ball the next player to his left - so on and so on until it gets to the last player who then must run to the front of the line and start the process again. The game ends when the player who was at the front of the line is back at the front.

I normally allow the player to do this the first time with no instruction from me other than the rules. Nearly always some player will turn the wrong way and make a mess of it. Then I step in and say to the players wouldn't it be much easier to help your team by shouting which way the player needs to turn. You will then get all your teams shouting left/right heloing the player and using their voice.

Next you can change instead of turning left/right - you do over/under (First player goes over his head, second player goes under his legs and repeat as above).

When they have mastered both of those and to introduce more complexity you can combine both (Left - right - over - under - left - right - over - under)

Might not be everybodys idea of a good drill but from experience I have found it a great way to get players using their voice and breaking the silence.

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

steve johnson — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:03:10 GMT

Isn't it astonishing that when you want the players to talk they won't, yet I bet that when you want them to button it (when you are explaining something) you can't keep them quiet! Blame mouth guards! As soon as they take them out, nothing hinders the noise levels!

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

mettadown — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:44:05 GMT

With every drill you do have them shout 'go' or something similar. For example, split your squad into 2-6 teams (based on numbers at training), put a tackle bag for each team 15-40 metres away next to it and make every player tackle it. When they've got back to their feet have them shout their next team members name, signalling the next player to go.

Also try to make all your drills fun and/or competitive (including hill runs, pressups etc).

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

Tobbe — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:04:54 GMT

When my players (U15) were too quiet / didn't communicate, I told them that they were not allowed to say anything, to be completely silent, and play for 5-10 minutes. If they breached the rule, the opposing team got a free kick.
After just a minute or two they started calling for the ball by clapping their hands and when I asked them why, they said that they needed to do that since it was impossible to play without talking. Point made!
The difference was significant when we resumed play and they were allowed to talk again.

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

Tryer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:08:07 GMT

My U14's are loud and communicate well...... when they've got the ball, lots of calling and where they're going....... my challenge is to get them to do it when they haven't and they're defending....... any ideas????

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

Doc Brown — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:10:42 GMT

I have just started to work on communication with my group of U14's. When playin touch if the ball is not called for then it shouldn't be passed and if, as referee, it is passed I blow up and turn the ball over to the other team. Only started last week and its better already, of course it has to follow them to the game but fingers crossed.

Liked the other drill tough and will give that a try

Steve

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

DanC — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:22:31 GMT

Try blindfolded tasks where one player has to tell another player where to go.

Or "not looking" passing, where the ball carrier relies on the call to know where to pass the ball.

Or "no ball" touch, where the imaginary ball can only be passed by calling the name of the intended passer. Normal rugby touch rules but there are no dropped balls (!).

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

sneakypete — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:54:37 GMT

Hi GourouxPete. That sound's a good drill to have a go with. I'll set it up for Sunday coming. Thanks.

Ferret - I feel your pain, at least I only have one to contend with.

Please keep the ideas / hints / tips coming.

peter.

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

Ferret — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:17:27 GMT

Good luck. We have an entire squad of silent U15s. Watching them play is like watching TV with the sound off. There has been some improvement but they have to be continually reminded.

Cheers

RE: Advice / help needed for silent players

GourouxPete — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:47:10 GMT

Hi Peter,

I'm a great believer in using and enhancing varieties of sensual input to improve communication. Getting players to enhance one sensual input by switching off the other is a good doorway into this area. Whilst this will help your silent player to understand the need for auditory communication, it will also raise the awareness of the group.

Whilst its a bit left field, you might consider this as something they could work at and you could develop for them.

Start working with pairs with sets of cones spaced in a straight line between 3-5m apart. Player A stands with a ball on a cone 5m in front of player B, facing away from A (ie downfield) so he can't see him approaching from behind. Player B starts his run and at a point of his choice calls "left" or "right". On that call, Player A - without looking left or right - has to give a pop pass for B to run on to. B then runs to the next cone and stops and repeats the process for A to perform. A must not start running until B has stopped at the next cone. The process can continue A-B-A-B for as far down the field as you wish

The key point is the passer must not look to see where runner is but rely only on his auditory cue.

There's a variety of learnings here - the timing of the call, the timing of the pop pass, giving a decent pop pass, giving loud and clear instructions, plus some more not yet considered.

You could develop this into going with more than just working pairs, perhaps into a relay race once the process starts to function. Another development is to add a tackler, who stands facing the passer and then has to react once the runner has made his call. This would sharpen up the process as well for both the runner and the passer. These are just some of a whole variety of ways you can develop and enhance this as a basic process.

Hope this helps.

Advice / help needed for silent players

sneakypete — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:21:05 GMT

Hi, have any of you came across a situation where a player (mini's level - aged 9) - I have a child in my p5 group that fails to use his voice ... he is strong in attack but doesn't receive the ball due to not shouting for it or if he's in support the other players in his team have no clue he's there. After the break down and before the restart even his own players are telling him to shout for the ball so they know where he is.

Any help would be great, games that we can play, drills we can run ...

peter.