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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 17/02/2010 19:15:40
Posts: 4,
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Hi all,
I was wondering what people do when their teams are slumping and have not won in a while?
How do you change practices?
How do you keep players wanting to practice?
The second part of my question is that my team is losing largely due to self-inflicted wounds. e.g. failure to clear the ball in our own 22, dropped passes in our own 22 etc etc.
My team is strong physically and has decent skills but their 'game intelligence' is rather low compared to our opposition. What strategies are there to work on this?
Thanks
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Supreme Being
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Last Login: 11/03/2010 16:56:51
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In a similar situation a couple of seasons ago, I introduced chalk and talk for 20 minutes before training.
I'd pick an aspect of the game where we were less confident, and open it up for discussion as to how we could create a solution. Having decided upon our ideas, we could then go out and train. The these discussed we would then enact in game related exercises.
I in fact was really pleased with this approach, but unfortunately the senior/more experienced players on the whole didn't buy into it, and just didn't get involved in the C&T which of course made any game related practice based on the C&T redundant as they would just do everything they always did do, with the same results, and moan at the players that had attended C&T because they were doing stuff that was "different" (which was of course the whole point). [1]
I continued the C&T because the younger and less experienced players seemed to appreciate it and if nothing else we were expanding our game knowledge and thoughts, but as a solution to the mistakes it was at best pointless. This doesn't mean it was a pointless idea though.
didds
[1] one reason why i walked away from coaching seniors in the end.
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Forum Guru
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Last Login: 23/02/2010 12:53:57
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C & T is a good start Didds, sad to hear you got disheartened... their loss! Another way to look at this is focus on the strength/ positives and get THOSE working optimally... the confidence gained may benefit the weaker areas of their game. Another thing is small sided games to create game sense & build decision making capacity... let us know how you get on-good luck!
Rugbia floreat ubique
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Forum Member
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Last Login: 18/01/2010 10:32:59
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Sorry I came to this topic rather late - coaching 6 days a week, etc.etc. The one thing you didn't mention in your mail is whether the team is playing to the best of their abilities and losing, or whether they are under-performing. If it's the former, then the task is to keep motivating, and praising things that are going right. I had a colts team last year that poured heart and soul into every game, and we won 2 out of 8 games. But they loved the game, we never got hammered, the kids bought into all the defence drills we did, and the key point was that after every game we lost, we sat down together, and talked through the best possible result, and the result achieved. I would ask, "Given the skill of the other team, what do you think the score should have been? (Usually the potential loss was far worse than that actually suffered) How many tries did we save? (Usually, several players had done really well in that area) How many successful tackles did we make? How often did we win the jackal?" The purpose was to show them that although the team came second, everyone had played the best THEY could as individuals, and that they had succeeded in a few aspects of the game.
If the team are under-performing, it's far more difficult, because it's more about attitude and motivation, and I hesitate to comment, because I can't see what you have done already. If this is the situation, I hope it doesn't discourage you too much.
SteveJ
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 01/01/2010 20:30:28
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didds (25/10/2009)
In a similar situation a couple of seasons ago, I introduced chalk and talk for 20 minutes before training.
I'd pick an aspect of the game where we were less confident, and open it up for discussion as to how we could create a solution. Having decided upon our ideas, we could then go out and train. The these discussed we would then enact in game related exercises.
I in fact was really pleased with this approach, but unfortunately the senior/more experienced players on the whole didn't buy into it, and just didn't get involved in the C&T which of course made any game related practice based on the C&T redundant as they would just do everything they always did do, with the same results, and moan at the players that had attended C&T because they were doing stuff that was "different" (which was of course the whole point). [1]
I continued the C&T because the younger and less experienced players seemed to appreciate it and if nothing else we were expanding our game knowledge and thoughts, but as a solution to the mistakes it was at best pointless. This doesn't mean it was a pointless idea though.
didds
[1] one reason why i walked away from coaching seniors in the end.didds, I think this is a great way to bring the problem/solution scenario to the game. Have to admit, I did this about 2 seasons ago and had exactly the same problems with the more senior 'know-it-alls', so I did the one and only thing that I felt was open to me and that was to drop them. Risky in the short term, but paid off in the long term. My view was that they were a negative in a vastly positive pool of players, and in my experience, all it takes is just 1 negative player to undermine the whole ethos of a squad. I knew we'd have a couple of rough games, but the main thing was that I got 100% buy in, in the end. I agree with your last point that its most definately not a pointless idea, and as any new intro, it has to be managed. Sorry it was a fruitless task for you though.
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