Session Plan For Junior Teams!
Here are some ideas for when the season gets going again! The theme here is for developing movement and catch & pass. This will follow the whole-part-whole or game-skills-game approach.
The warm up should be fun, engaging and have a connection with the activities that are about to be performed. Doing the same warm up each time means you are not preparing the players for the specific tasks ahead. During the warm up you can also explain what they will be practising, ask questions and listen to responses.
WHOLE: Start off with a game that continues the warm up process and has an aspect you wish to implement. For example, drop touch is a great example that allows them to have an element of running. You could condition them to run to a coloured cone or post.
PART: From drop touch you have probably seen that they drop a the ball a lot. So your focus might be to now look at a part/skill that practices and develops the awareness of the ball grip.
WHOLE: Now we need to see the grip being used in a game to see the transfer from technical to skilful performance (under pressure). A factor to bring in here might be holding the ball with 2 hands and having 10 points of contact. Can you reward skilful performances as well as tries?
PART: From the game we realise that ball grip is fundamental to how we carry and pass the ball to support. If you are happy that learning has taken place you can either repeat the original part of the grip to reinforce the learning or look at another aspect such as the catch of the ball, which is linked to the grip.
WHOLE: Finish off with a game that touches again on all the above points. Such as offload touch or drop touch. It's important not to spend more time on explaining new games here, we simply want to see the skills in action.
Make sure you end each session with a warm down giving the players an oppurtunity to stretch and bring heart rates and body temps down. The warm down is also a good time to check for understanding! Ask questions and reinforce the feel-good factor of keeping fit and playing rugby.