On Saturday I will participate in my first coaching clinic because I want to coach my 4 & 6 year old's mini rugby teams. I am sure I will get good information from the clinic on how to run a successful practice for the boys and girls. I thought I would look online for some other material to support my role as coach.
I ended up being drawn to this book called "Fun Mini Rugby Games" written by Colin Ireland - a coach with 30 years experience in teaching mini rugby. I ordered the pdf version of the coaching manual and sent that off for printing and lamination; that way it will last in the rain or even snow, we are still likely to get some of that nasty stuff.
The manual is colourful and very easy to read and understand the given drills to run with the kids. Ireland provides tips, vocal encouragement to call out the kids during the drills and what you as the coach should be looking for while the kids are running the drills.
Each drill is clearly written on a single sheet that has all the information to successfully setup and run the drill. The drills progress in difficulty and skill to coincide with the development of the mini rugby players. Drills are broken up into the 5 segments; Agility Lessons, Passing & Handling Lessons, Tackling Lessons, Decision Making Lessons and Team Skills Lessons.
Looking at a Passing & Handling drill called "Star Fighters"; the drill is a played with 9 players on 3 teams. The object of 2 teams is to make as many passes as possible without dropping while the remaining team attempts to foil their efforts. The names of the games are creative and appealing to children with names like; Shadow buster, Zombie Chief, Dragons and Tackle Demons. The pdf version cost me around $35 CAD and you can order a print version and the combination of both for just a little more.
I think I made a very good decision in choosing this coaching material for my mini rugby practices. I just can't wait to try out the material on the kids. I hope they will be responsive to the drills as I run them, chaos aside.
Thank you to Colin Ireland for creating this wonderful gem for the mini rugby coach - it is going out to the front lines as my main offense!
