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Training at Home

Premiership coaches discuss the benefits of extra-curricular training at home and participation in other sports to develop skills.

Video Subtitles

Yeah, I think the key thing with skill development is it's a little bit often. So I've got a four-year-old son and he loves tennis and he loves rugby. So after he's done his homework and before I read him a book at night we go to the the office and the office of big big area where we can he practices he's tackling practices. He's kicking we hit a few forehands and backhands and so and we'll do we spend half an hour 45 minutes every night just on every night we do. This is just a little bit of skill and it's that sort of stuff if you if you want to improve and get your skill set up there. It's you know, I think it's widely recognized is 10,000 hours have got to go in before you can Master any skill whether that's coaching the art of communication or whether it's you know tennis or or rugby. So if you work that out, there's 10,000 hours. If you can invest in young players if they can really invest their time in the back Garden, you know in the bedroom in the hall. Why what have you taken? You're always working on their skills, which kids love to do anyway, because it's fun and that's just going to set him up for a great future in the game at whatever level I think for any player or any developing player if he's got the support at home that that obviously helps I think players should be encouraged. The boys should be encouraged to look at what they're doing. I also think they should be encouraged to play other sports as well. I think the best performers in rugby will will have multi skill love. I think even just a tennis ball against the wall and reaction drills or whatever it is, you know, just just doing things which are fun. And if you repeat, you know, repeat them. It's it's a bit like the old Street games in the past that you know, you just played Sport two or three aside whatever it was, but you do it for hours on end. And that's eventually how you hone the skills that it doesn't have to be formalized. Sometimes it just has to be there and just be we worked on massively. I've just had a chat with the lads there and saying you can never stop learning. It's all about working your passion skills. You're handling skills getting out in the garden throwing the ball against the wall. You don't need someone to do that with you can practice on your own and looking at resources looking at the internet looking at we give and take on handbooks with all the rubber skills the sessions in there. So it's a constant learning period and whilst we give passing their experiences to them. They've got to buy into a little bit and do extras at home. I'm on the run and work under their own steam as well. I mean one of the best ways to learn is by watching other players do it will speak about players like Sonny Bill Williams down Carter watching videos are then but also watching videos of lads at your level as you're on edge playing lead kind of your first team session. Just Junior Rugby Club sessions looking at different skill levels and how you can relate to those and how you can pick things up all of our sessions. Essentially. What you're trying to do in the game is score a try and there are many many different ways of doing that. One of the key ways in which engility is important is if your man, oh man of a player if you can't run through him, you're gonna have to try and run around him and it's agility is essentially ability to change speed to change direction as fast as you can ideally at this age. What you're trying to do is build their fundamental skills. So they have that ability to stop that can be done anywhere. All they need is our own body weight things such as body weight squats will develop their legs at this age and will develop develop that movement pattern that when they're older that's when they can develop and put on the weight in the gym, but for now a simple home bodyweight program is enough to build and develop those skills. Yeah, certainly core exercises for me. You've got your squats simply because their exercise is really good for developing lower leg power and strength. Lunges because it's a good posture exercise again working the working your hamstrings as well. And then you're essentially a push and a pull so pull-ups. It's good. We're developing upper body strength, but only using your body weight and press UPS as well again bills that good strength both in your arms and across your chest which is essential in rugby in holding good postural body position and then something simple like a front plank because it develops your core strength in the muscles allowing to hold that brace set position which is essential in rugby, especially for the front eight. Absolutely, especially if they are away from their clubs away from the school's is essential that they're not using this period as a complete time off whilst understand there's obviously a lot of stress on the moment schools. A lot of rugby doesn't mean two weeks off completely is going to do them. No good at all a simple bodyweight program now is the next two weeks because essentially improve them drastically in this period and in a way give them two weeks to focus just on those skills so that when they come back to rugby after Christmas they developed and Not fatigued or gone back to being at worse that essentially than they were before the break.