Making core skills fun. Improving the core skills is important
to player and team. But players, however motivated, will need
some new ways of approaching the core skill to add variety to
the practices. Here are some different ways of adding an element
of fun to handling activities.
Variety
Practice normal passing and then change to an unusual form of
passing before returning to the core pass being examined. For
instance when looking at offloads, make the players try one
handed back flicks in the tackle for a couple of rounds of the
drill.
Time trials
After going through some of the drills, try putting a time limit
on achieving a certain target, e.g. five passes in one area
followed by fives passes in another in 30 seconds. The element
of pressure builds a certain amount of tension, but also can
lead to players enjoying the success. If they can beat their
times or other group’s times, they will enjoy the task even more.
Unusual areas
Don’t just practice in boxes or circles, use different shapes
set out by cones to force players to think in different ways.
Some coaches set out a snake like shape with differing widths in
which players must progress up the pitch.
Also try handling on a sharper incline, or in long grass.
Different size balls
With all the different types of promotional balls, as well as
age group balls, there are at least five separate sizes of rugby
ball out there. Don’t just practice with one size, get the
players to handle using all shapes and sizes in one practice.
The variety of shapes will challenge players to change the way
they may take and give a pass.
Different balls
And one should not just think of different rugby balls, but also
try using tennis balls (see issue 10), footballs (have you ever
tried spinning one of these?) or even beach balls. All could add
an element of fun, if not enhance your players understanding of
ball handling.
Resistance running and passing
Resistance running is where another player holds onto a player’s
shirt or shorts as they try to run forward. The idea is to let
the player make some progress but making them work significantly
harder than they would do normally. Have you tried this
technique with ball handing? Players do not always have the
luxury of passing unhindered.
Cones as distracters
In passing drills, make a player carry a cone in one hand. They
are allowed to use the cone and other hand to catch the ball,
but they must release or pass the ball using the hand without
the cone. Once they have made right hand passes, then get them
to change hands. Move on to getting players to take passes
one-handed – replicating the times in the game when they need to
take contact with the other arm. One handed pass to one-handed
catcher is not going to move the ball quickly across the field,
but it might be very useful in a tight situation. For more
articles on Rugby Coaching or to sign up for a free Rugby
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