I love coaching rugby. After 25 successful years, I continue to enjoy the challenges. But my biggest personal challenge is the fear of losing. Conquering that fear makes me work harder. To me, the key to continued success is looking at myself first when things don’t work out for the team.

The Perfect Performance

When I was coaching with the Maori All Blacks we beat several international teams including England and Scotland. I believe we achieved close to our perfect performances then. They didn’t play badly, we played well. We followed the game plan and scored more than 50 points in each game.

Challenging me first

After every game, win or lose, I look at myself. I am realistic with the players, but I am more concerned with what i could have done differently in the lead up to the game.

I look at two main areas, the physical and mental side of the preparation.

1. Physical preparation

After a game I will consider whether the players were physically in tune for the match. I will look back at sessions during the week, thinking about the intensity we used. This will shape next week’s programme. This is equally applicable to the professional rugby as it is to amateur rugby.

Sometimes if the players are tired after the previous weekend’s game, we will reduce the amount of work for the following week. A week’s heavy training is not going to improve their fitness in the short term and our players need to recover.

2. Mental preparation

Good mental preparation is about the players understanding the game plan and structures. We have plans put in place to carry out certain functions around the field. For instance we put

down what lineouts we will use in their 22m area and the plays we will use from those lineouts.

After the game I need to question whether these were the right plans in the circumstances. Did we choose the right options when faced with the opposition? It might be that we did not choose the right plans before the game, or that the players did not carry out the plans.

Adjusting and adapting

You cannot fundamentally  change the way players act in a week, it is a gradual process. You need to have a long term plan and system in place for the whole season. This then provides the basis for each week’s training. Our working week will have some adjustment given what has happened  from the last game. Readers of my articles will know this as “work ons”, a section of the week in which we address problems from previous matches.

Continuously fixing the plan

The plan is rarely perfect. But I always strive for perfection, so despite whether we won or not, I will exam the plan vigorously. I expect my players to do the same. We ask ourselves what worked and what didn’t, and then which parts of the plan did we not execute.

If a player decides to take options that were not part of our plan, there is a chance he won’t be playing next week. I am not afraid to drop the best players either. This is no way reduces the belief in flair. Rather we set out structures to create opportunities for flair, based on the strengths of the team and the style of the opposition.

“Why do you play the game?”

One of my daily challenges from running a professional team is keeping the players focused. The holiday period is an especially hard time to maintain the right mental attitude. I continually set goals for them to achieve.

I also ask them why they are playing the game. It is not always a question they can answer, but it certainly makes them consider their personal goals and ways of improving.

“Jim Love”

ICEF is a group of chartered schools in the US who have a rugby programme in South Los Angeles. A selected group of 40 boys and girls aged between 14 and 18 years were selected to attend the trip to New Zealand for 2 weeks. ICEF director of rugby Stuart Krohn has played rugby all over the world, including a two-year stint on the North Shore 24 years ago.

He said rugby was one of the fastest-growing sports in America and was exploding among youth worldwide. However, he said people were still surprised to see his students on a rugby field.

They stayed for the day to have a training session with Jim Love, Darrel Shelford and our students, lunch and also learn the techniques used in our curriculum.

It was a great day and our students enjoyed interacting with our US visitors.

Julie Wilson will be our netball mentor and brings many years of experience to the academy. Julie was Southland Representative Player for netball, softball and basketball. She has been a Wellington Netball Rep Coach for many years for both age groups and Senior teams and coach and player mentor for the past 10 years. Julie was the PIC national league coach throughout the 90s with many Silver Ferns playing for the team including current ANZ coaches Debbie Matoe, Gail Parata, Noeline Taurua Barnett and Julie Seymour.

Julie specialises in developing players skills required for netball, body balance, footwork, defence and attack court play and patterns.

There are still places available in our Wellington academy so email us for more information at info@nzsportsacademy.co.nz or call Alex on 0212995295

Gracias por todo Olga y extiende el agradecimiento a toda la academia!

It has been an unforgettable experience. The boys at the academy are
great and the coaches very approachable. This has helped me a lot to understand
the Maori philosophy about Rugby and how they work in the field. Is a pity that
I’ve only be for a week, even it has been a very good learning experience.
I’ve left very good friends at  Rotorua that I hope to see one day.

Raul Garcia (Coach) from Spain

Both Wellington and Rotorua academies did a 20 minute Neuro session at Jenkins Gym then went to the grounds to prepare for kick off. Before the game commenced as tradition the Wellington academy preformed  the Whanganui-a-tara haka and the Rotorua academy boys preformed the Te Arawa Haka.  It was typical Wellington weather raining and the grounds were muddy the game was entertaining between academies, with Wellington taking the lead initially the game was neck in neck with the score always within one try, Wellington lead through out until the final 5 minutes where the Rotorua academy conjured up a try and a conversion which drew the match 30 all.

 All in all it was a very high quality game the skill level of the players was also at a high level . Players from both sides who stood out in particular were:   Murphy MacCormick (Wellington) Va’a Asomua ( Wellington), Petara Rikiriki ( Wellington), Te Amo Wilbore( Rotorua) Te Haata Wilbroe ( Rotorua) Joe Va’atuitui ( Rotorua), Jaya Vahua ( Rotorua).

1: Be prepared, be professional

With only six days before the first game for a team that had never previously played together it was important to be prepared, professional, effective and efficient.

Every one of the six days and beyond was planned so I knew what was happening, and, more importantly, the players knew exactly what was happening to them.

And we want to treat the players as professionals – this meant that the players only needed to think about training and playing.

All their kit and equipment needs were provided for so there was no waiting around or setting up. Objectives and targets were clearly defined before every session.

This level of readiness can be translated into every level of club and team training. Time with a team is always limited. With players, coaches and equipment organised, we could maximise this time together.

2: One thought, one practice

One of my golden rules in coaching is not to overload the players, whatever  the level. Each practice concentrated on one aspect of the game, whether it be restarts, defence or back row moves.

3: Set piece – the whole team

We had one very physical scrummaging session, and lineout moves were practiced in the players own time, under my guidance. Otherwise, set piece was practiced as a whole team during training time. When the whole team is together, I like them to run together and get to know more about each other. The US Falcons was a scratch team – many had only played against each other, and rarely together.

At club and school level, I would suggest a similar pattern. The backs and forwards should rarely “split” in the guts of a training session, but practice their moves on either end of the practice or meet separately.

4:My first meeting – get the environment right

When I met the players for the first time, I set out my philosophy. Those who have been regular readers will know how much I emphasise getting the environment right. A positive environment allows players to express themselves. I asked them to enjoy their rugby, have fun and trust in each other ( and me! )

5: Train hard, recover twice as hard

A team should be professional not just before and during training, but after as well. We had to play a game at the end of the week and we needed everyone to be fit. Therefore we made sure there were good facilities to aid the recovery process. Warm downs were followed by contrast baths ( hot and cold), stretching and work with the medical team.

Showers, stretching and proper hydration and diet can be carried out by all teams. If players are feeling stiff the next day, then the coach has to reappraise their systems.

Summary:

• Treat the players as professional – and be professional yourself.
• Don’t jam too much into one practice.
• When the whole team is together, practice together – leave set piece to the beginning and end of the practice.
• Get the environment right first – enjoyment, trust and positive.
• Recovery is vital – spend as much time as possible on this area.

Jim Love