Martin's Rugby Coaching Forum

We have lots of discussion re. the game warm-up. I think the warm-up serves to goals:

(yes) warming up the muscles
getting geared up mentally

How long do you need for this

Do you believe players are open for a mini training session? I am not....

Good discussion with Robby yesterday. Who should do the warming-up? Coach or Captain. I want to get involved, not because of the Captain but because I want to make absolutely sure we do the right thing.

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Martin, Rugbyhead

Coach should oversee the warm up.
The captain has to warm up himself and concentrate on his own game therefore he doesnt need that extra responsability of warming the team up.
I believe in using tackle bags and shields in the warm up,after all if you kick off the first action your team will do is tackle.
A five to ten minute session on the bags prior to the game gets the team ready to make that first hit both physicaly and mentaly .
We used to go out half an hour befroe kick off and do a 20 minute stretching,running,ball handling and tackiling session.Once back in the changing rooms the players would remain on their feet keeping moving and stretching ready to take the field fully prepared .

We also have about 30 minutes for a physical warm up - led by me the coach, sometimes even the captain needs a mental kick up the ****. We find that the old Auckland grids work well intermingled with stretching activities. 30 seconds on a passing/gut/cross type of jog, then the appropriate stretch going from ankles, calves, thighs, lower back, neck (alone and then in 2's for resistance), finally shoulders. Total time about 10 minutes. Then we do passing grids, four cones 5 metres apart, 5 metres deep. Team divided into 2 groups (we have 25 players in the team squad for tournaments) or if only 15 into one grid of 6 cones. The ball is passed along the line and back for 8 round trips, then they go in 2's the first player puts the ball down, the second does a short SH pass. 8 round trips, single passes again, and doubles once more. Total number of passes in a 6 cone grid is 320. You could get mad if more than 8 passes were not good enough. Then we have a "hit" session against the shields, maul/gut/pop to the right, ball passed to the "SH" ball passed to the left and two rucks. Continue for 5 minutes. Then front tackles against the shields 3 sets of right shoulder - back - left shoulder. After this, we split the forwards and backs for 10 - 15 minutes, then finish and back to the shed. Total time is about 45 minutes, and we are ready to rumble.

Hello,

Yes, I always talk about confidence and trust. Work hard and result will come, do not worry, we deserve to win because we work so hard. etc. Work at a pre-match ritual, make that the same for all your games! Look at the Positive Coaching Alliance website for some ideas about what coaches (and parents) can do to build on this:

http://www.positivecoach.org/subcontent.aspx?SecID=181

The site has some ready to use scripts.

Good luck,
B.