What I Think I Learned While Coaching (Volume 4)

It was another fun year with Brookline High School Rugby Club. We had some pretty awesome changes to the club and some pretty awesome stuff happening in general. We had a coaching structure change because we officially officially had a girl’s team and wow was that a ton of fun. Overall, this was my 7th year with the club, 6th of actual coaching and 4th of being the top of the ladder, yikes. Yes, I still continue to learn things (I think) as I go through the years, so here’s what I think I picked up this season.
 
The core will always make itself apparent- What I mean by this, is you will almost always start a season with SOME players that are just there because their friends came or because they hear it’s a no cut varsity sport and they think it’ll be easy. We aren’t huge jerks, but we also don’t put up with bullshit as a coaching staff or a club. Both teams had some unnecessary members on their rosters to begin the season. Eventually those extra’s either got found out and decided we weren’t for them or got with the program and thrived. Once that happened, we had a really good group that made some fun things happen.
 
The environment must be right- Relating to my point above, we have ourselves a great club environment at Brookline. When a new person comes in and wants to screw up the chemical balance, they’ll either understand how to gel or leave on their own accord (like I said, see above). These students are all very welcoming, but we don’t tolerate those that come in and want to be dickheads (oh no a curse word said by high schoolers). These types of players, no matter how talented, end up in the right places for the right reasons because of the environment. Like I said, they either adapt and thrive, or they don’t and find themselves on the outs.

There’s always surprises- Whether we like it or not there will always be a surprise or two in the season. The best you can do is try to anticipate what you can and adjust when something you didn’t see coming hits. The best way to do this, for me, is for all the players to be ready to change what the game plan is or their roles or positions, at the drop of a hat. We did fairly well in terms of not getting caught napping to a great extent, we had backups to our backups. Sometimes, that last little surprise can hand you an uppercut you weren’t quite ready for. We’ve learned from it this season and will apply it to next season, all you can do really in the end.
 
Well, that’s quite a bit right there if I do say so for being with this team for the better part of a decade now. I hope someone out there at least found this entertaining and maybe had a laugh. Next week’s post will have someone a bit more insightful to training, but until then have yourself a week and thanks for reading.