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Improving your relationship with players

Psychologist John Neal explains how critical it is for a coach to have rapport with their players, parents, co-coaches and club staff, to understand how they think, and therefore build better relationships.

Video Subtitles

The degree of Rapport between you as a coach your coaches, perhaps your director of rugby, perhaps the parents perhaps the supporters perhaps the media is absolutely critical. If you're not in rapport with them, you don't understand how they're thinking. You can't modify your style. If as a coach you've only got your way and it's your way or the highway that's where you may end up on the highway on a fast track out of the club. It's absolutely critical. You have the ability to see things from other people's perspective. So as a coach, I'm really recommend you start thinking less about yourself and more about the people you're coaching observe them closely. Watch what sort of car they drive. How did their parents drop them off? What sort of background away from how do they speak? What's their views on things really get inside their head? Pretty good coaches are in fantastic rapport with the players the coaches and the people around because when you understand what's going on in your players head to your performance heads. You've got the power because you can motivate Inspire and you can do it quickly and Under Pressure report is critical.