A 6 Nations To Remember | Training From Home!
For so many reasons this 6 Nations competition will be one to remember:
- New coaching teams in several countries
- New styles of play to adapt into
- Key players dropped or lost to injury
- Core values tested
- The obvious coronavirus issues
From a purely playing perspective we have seen some significant technical and tactical developments. France in taking on Shaun Edwards has finally realised they can tackle and attack in the same game, their resilience has really come on this season. Their defence was only bested by the Scots with a defensive record marshalled by Steve Tandy of conceding only 4 tries! So far…
Scotland’s methodology in defence was based on several factors:
- Organisation of the defensive units
- Commitment to the team
- Work rate/effort
These three aspects underpinned the brilliance of the defence and how difficult it was for teams to get go forward with the ball in hand, making teams resort to a kicking game they didn’t really want to utilise. Scotland epitomised the adage ‘be the best you can at the things that require no skill’.
Grassroots coaches often try and do too much, covering all the bases and aspects of the way their team plays rather than developing a coherent, well planned and a good use of coaching time strategy to develop their teams. What I mean by this is work on what you can fix or what you develop or improve. Individual skills learning and unit improvement takes time. Grassroots coaches struggle with the lack of time and will skim learn/coach without being able to go into the depth needed within the session.
Scotland with another win on Saturday against Wales will finish the disrupted season with more league points than anyone else and winning back many people’s votes as the team of the Championships, overcoming adversity and a small pool of talented players from which to draw from.
So as a grassroots team, is it possible for you to base your tactical prowess on a water-tight defence and tick all the other tactical boxes as well? With about 3-4 hours coaching each week, you need effective planning to be able to do this.
Scotland will beat Wales on Saturday primarily due to their strong improvement in the competition, their positive style of play that is developing an effective balanced approach to their game, and their key player being in form.
Training From Home - Coronavirus
This is obviously a first for many coaches, training and games called off, no contact with players and no team training to prepare for remaining fixtures. Does this mean we stop communicating with our players/teams?
Skills can be maintained:
Be especially aware that fitness can drop off remarkably quickly and with particular emphasis on top end speed and anaerobic fitness – endurance drops off a lot more slowly – if stuck indoors – and symptom free then you can train intensely. Avoid high intensity exercise if you are symptomatic!
You can also use this period to communicate gameplans, tactics via ppt using various apps or communication tools.
We have no idea of the long term duration of the current restrictions, they may get worse and last a lot longer. Plan for these events and you won’t be left floundering on how to tackle them. Good Luck!