Martin's Rugby Coaching Forum

I am a mini's coach at a local club but have been asked to set up a girls team for ages 15/16. At the moment I am a bit out of my depth with regard to the coaching of the girls. Any help or advice that you could give me would be very much appreciated both by myself, the club and the girls!

Regards,
Cindy

Since I have never coached younger than 16 I am too asking myself what the difference will be. I always try to see my role as a coach on these levels:

Strategic: what are the players capable of (skills, etc.) how do I want them to play, what does it mean for the things I do more as a coach.
Tactical: in situations on the field, what kind of decisions to I want my team to make
Individual: what are the motor skills needed

Does this help? For each 'level' you can ask yourself a lot of questions. For you having experience with mini rugby the tactical and strategical might scare you: my advise would be:

develop a style of play where everybody is involved
focus on open play although working on set-play might be easier / more recognisable
have fun, play lots of little games
make the girls aware that there is now another dimension to playing rugby: relate training to playing, try to make the team "coachable".

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Martin, Rugbyhead

Great, a girls team!

Make the Girls Only aspect important. "Let's show them" or "Finally we can train and play without these stupid boys". Focus on tackling low and support the ball carrier. Outsmart the boys.

Looking forward to how this will develop.

Art