Passing

[The Brain]

I would like to see Mini and SKD in a passing comp with each other and take oddd for 100 passes
100 passes dropped is only paying $1.10

[Vasco]

That has to be one of the strangest things I've seen written here in ages.

Ironically my boss's son's coach in the Camden area was arrested a few weeks ago on drug charges!

[Vasco]

Back on topic, I'd like to know what Headless Chook or anyone else who works in junior footy think about the coaching of young players.

Are the fundamental skills taught?

[Guest]

Back on topic, I'd like to know what Headless Chook or anyone else who works in junior footy think about the coaching of young players.

Are the fundamental skills taught?

Mate no there not.
I coached my nephews team for 6 yrs in the Penrith comp. when I got them at u/9's there were 3 kids that could pass a ball with good technique while running and only 5 could do it standing still.
It's just parents trying to do there best. Some have nfi but there there having a go.
They can only teach them what they know and what they think they know.
Ii think it falls back on the club. Every club should have a coach in the first year or two of them starting footy who has gone and done a proper coaching course where people are teaching them the basic skills and techniques so they can teach the kids.
People may not agree but that is how I think we can help these kids learn to play rugby league properly

[stsae]

Mate no there not.
I coached my nephews team for 6 yrs in the Penrith comp. when I got them at u/9's there were 3 kids that could pass a ball with good technique while running and only 5 could do it standing still.
It's just parents trying to do there best. Some have nfi but there there having a go.
They can only teach them what they know and what they think they know.
Ii think it falls back on the club. Every club should have a coach in the first year or two of them starting footy who has gone and done a proper coaching course where people are teaching them the basic skills and techniques so they can teach the kids.
People may not agree but that is how I think we can help these kids learn to play rugby league properly

I agree it's the club but I will add the group/junior league in there mate.

I know up here in Group 18 we have available coaching days with The Titties coaching staff, thru our club. We also do a decent coaching certificate, different levels for the different ages, and have a CRL rep available at anytime.

When did you last sit a coaching course??? I first did one in about 89 and the most recent one I did 2 years ago has improved dramatically. We learnt some good skills drills for the kids and a lot of focus on keeping kids busy at training and varying training to keep them interested.

It is mostly volunteers and they are generally parents who get roped in cos no one else will do the job, as you said. Been the same for as long as I can remember.

A lot of the problems with lack of skills in kids IMO stems from mini and mod rules. No kicking till tens and then only grubbers and non pressure kicks. The 2 pass rule where you put your slowest runners into hooker and half cos they must pass. They are the worst rules. Really doesn't let a coach even run a team in the basics and develop kids with playmaking skills and speed.

I have seen a few coaches teaching wrestling, more for fitness and strength, but seeing 10 year olds warm up before games wrestling is not a good look IMO.

All that said there is good and bad coaches like in every profession and walk of life. Always been that way. Pinky calling them all drug dealers and alcos is not factual, at least from my expierence.

[Guest]

I agree it's the club but I will add the group/junior league in there mate.

I know up here in Group 18 we have available coaching days with The Titties coaching staff, thru our club. We also do a decent coaching certificate, different levels for the different ages, and have a CRL rep available at anytime.

When did you last sit a coaching course??? I first did one in about 89 and the most recent one I did 2 years ago has improved dramatically. We learnt some good skills drills for the kids and a lot of focus on keeping kids busy at training and varying training to keep them interested.

It is mostly volunteers and they are generally parents who get roped in cos no one else will do the job, as you said. Been the same for as long as I can remember.

A lot of the problems with lack of skills in kids IMO stems from mini and mod rules. No kicking till tens and then only grubbers and non pressure kicks. The 2 pass rule where you put your slowest runners into hooker and half cos they must pass. They are the worst rules. Really doesn't let a coach even run a team in the basics and develop kids with playmaking skills and speed.

I have seen a few coaches teaching wrestling, more for fitness and strength, but seeing 10 year olds warm up before games wrestling is not a good look IMO.

All that said there is good and bad coaches like in every profession and walk of life. Always been that way. Pinky calling them all drug dealers and alcos is not factual, at least from my expierence.

They do different levels down here but I wouldn't say that they are teaching the coaches anything. I did my senior coaches course 2 years ago and that was good and taught you more.
The junior coaches courses are more about your duties and how to treat kids and it went for 3 hrs.
Penrith to my knowledge don't offer anything like that to clubs
I disagree there with the mini and mod rules. It's the coaches who lump those kids in those spots week in week out. My mate coaches his sons team and they are in there last year of mod rules. He has coached them since under 6's and every week he changed the dummy half and first receiver around so every player spends a full game there. He lost the grand final last year because his biggest and best runner was at dummy half all game. He copped some shit from a few angry parents but in a couple of years and you can see it now, nearly every kid can pass a football
It comes down to the coach, is he a 'win at all costs' person or 'I want to help these kids get better'
I love winning but i get better satisfaction watching my scrawny little kid bring down a big poly kid at full steam with a perfect copybook boot lace tackle or a simple draw and pass after a line break to beat the fullback.
I think Pinky was shit stirring a little bit there mate, ill admit I did have a bit of a giggle at that
My advice to any coach is go and watch first grade train, take notes and simplify the drills to teach your kids.
I did it plenty of times and got some really good drills out of it

[Headless Chook]

Back on topic, I'd like to know what Headless Chook or anyone else who works in junior footy think about the coaching of young players.

Are the fundamental skills taught?

The biggest problem is a lot of the coaches are just parents doing it because nobody else will. Their grasp of the basic skills is in a lot of cases stuck back in the time when they were playing so the young kids aren't being taught correct technique. I don't deal a lot with kids below the age of 15 but I see a lot of kids who are good players but still don't have the correct techniques when they get to that age.

One of the best ideas I have seen was from Mark Tookey. He runs Souths Logans junior development. He developed a basic coaching manual which he goes through with every coach in his club. The manual is divided into sections depending upon the age group the coach is handling. It has the basic skillset which is to be taught to each team along with a copy of the digi league DvD and the drills the coach should look at to develop the skills of their players. He monitors the coaches and teams throughout the season and being the larger than life character that he is, has no hesitation jumping in and helping out when necessary.

One of the other issues is just simply that some of the coaches think they are Wayne Bennett or Craig Bellamy and the development of the kids is secondary to the result on the scoreboard. Sure we all want to win, but one of my most satisfying years was coaching a team of kids with very little experience and seeing their development over the season. I learned a lot about myself as a coach and a lot about coaching in that one year. Its great to have superstar players, but seeing a kid go from being scared of making a tackle to pulling off a try saver and winning the game for you is like winning a mini Grand final.

Country Rugby League has been trying to introduce a coach mentoring program where they have their better coaches go to different junior clubs and go through the basics with the coaches. A coach the coaches type situation. The problem with this is, that a lot of guys think they already know it so don't bother turning up.

So in answer to the question are the basic skills being taught? Yes and no. Some coaches work diligently at it, others don't. Maybe the Level 1 needs to be modified to ensure that this happens all the time in the future.

[Headless Chook]

One other thing.

Any junior coaches out there looking for drills etc could do worse then join this site.

http://www.completeleaguecoach.com/

It has video of each drill and a voice overlay explaing the techniques being taught as well as the ability to print every drill. I use it for most of my coaching and it gets updated regularly.

[Guest]

I think he is referring to Mascot JRLFC.

Pretty much any club on the central coast

Maybe up the north end of the Coast.

I would have thought they'd be better seeing as though most of them have that extra head.

[Guest]

Suppose X-Box, playstation etc., have a lot to do with the lack of skills in todya's youth. How many times do you drive past a park and it is empty. Back in the day, straight after school, you'd be down at the park and bashing your mates in a game of footy, practising your tackling, dummy and passing. Today they are X-Box champions.

Like Albert Einstein said,

" When technology surpasses human interaction, we will have a generation of idiots."

He isn't far off the mark.

Good post.

I was talking about the very same thing with a few of the boys at work just the other day.

[stsae]

They do different levels down here but I wouldn't say that they are teaching the coaches anything. I did my senior coaches course 2 years ago and that was good and taught you more.
The junior coaches courses are more about your duties and how to treat kids and it went for 3 hrs.
Penrith to my knowledge don't offer anything like that to clubs
I disagree there with the mini and mod rules. It's the coaches who lump those kids in those spots week in week out. My mate coaches his sons team and they are in there last year of mod rules. He has coached them since under 6's and every week he changed the dummy half and first receiver around so every player spends a full game there. He lost the grand final last year because his biggest and best runner was at dummy half all game. He copped some shit from a few angry parents but in a couple of years and you can see it now, nearly every kid can pass a football
It comes down to the coach, is he a 'win at all costs' person or 'I want to help these kids get better'
I love winning but i get better satisfaction watching my scrawny little kid bring down a big poly kid at full steam with a perfect copybook boot lace tackle or a simple draw and pass after a line break to beat the fullback.
I think Pinky was shit stirring a little bit there mate, ill admit I did have a bit of a giggle at that
My advice to any coach is go and watch first grade train, take notes and simplify the drills to teach your kids.
I did it plenty of times and got some really good drills out of it

Great post mate.

My main problem with the mini and mod rules is the no/limited kicking rule and the two/one pass rule. IMO they dont give the opportunity for coaches to use players where their natural skills benefit the team. Playmakers are naturals and usually quick, it just doesnt work from what ive seen. The other rules are good for kids, modified fields, smaller balls, no slinging etc. Even if they modified the rules a bit, I know some comps play nominated dummy 1/2s and playmakers with armbands who can get tackled, that IMO is the sort of idea I like. Let's you develop players in the two crucial attacking positions.

I reckon we are very lucky up here, our CRL rep is very good and genuinely loves kids and the game. He is always available. I know Souffs are very good too as HC said.

I like what your mate has done with his team. That's great to hear there are some quality coaches out there willing to teach for the future not just win at all costs. Hardest thing I've found coaching kids is balancing keeping them motivated, keeping it fun, teaching them all considering the vastly different development rates and managing the parents.

Yeah I thought Pinky might have been taking the piss. I was just teasing her a little.

Great ideas both you and HC.

[Guest]

The dumbest thing Penrith did was at u/12's I think, they changed it from 10m back to 5m.
Now you would think that would help kids learn to be a bit better with ball in hand but not if they haven't been taught how to pass or read what a defence is doing. some first graders struggle doing that. All it did was keep the bigger boys in the game longer because they didn't have to get back 10m to be onside. They just stay fresher for longer periods a dominated even more.
Your very lucky to have someone up there from crl who is willing to help. When they introduced the rule in Penrith I actually spoke to Don Feltis who was the boss of the junior league at the time why they did it and I said to him that it will only benefit the bigger kids. His response was shithouse "teach your kids how to tackle properly". I wasn't the only coach to express that opinion and we were all shocked at his response.
My boys were really small compared to most other teams in the comp and isaid that this rule is going to hamper the smaller agile sides because they will just get bashed in defence. His response "teach them to pass the ball quicker" this is the bloke who was running the league. By the time my halfback had shifted the ball to our 5/8 or a wide running bac rower the defence was in there face. Even the really good sides have no ball players because its basically 3 forwards a shift play that doesn't go more then 3 passes another hit up and kick. Pretty boring for 15 yr olds playing div1 in arguably the hardest comp in all of Sydney.

[Guest]

Great post mate.

My main problem with the mini and mod rules is the no/limited kicking rule and the two/one pass rule. IMO they dont give the opportunity for coaches to use players where their natural skills benefit the team. Playmakers are naturals and usually quick, it just doesnt work from what ive seen. The other rules are good for kids, modified fields, smaller balls, no slinging etc. Even if they modified the rules a bit, I know some comps play nominated dummy 1/2s and playmakers with armbands who can get tackled, that IMO is the sort of idea I like. Let's you develop players in the two crucial attacking positions.

I reckon we are very lucky up here, our CRL rep is very good and genuinely loves kids and the game. He is always available. I know Souffs are very good too as HC said.

I like what your mate has done with his team. That's great to hear there are some quality coaches out there willing to teach for the future not just win at all costs. Hardest thing I've found coaching kids is balancing keeping them motivated, keeping it fun, teaching them all considering the vastly different development rates and managing the parents.

Yeah I thought Pinky might have been taking the piss. I was just teasing her a little.

Great ideas both you and HC.

Great read guys

I'm with you on that stsae
The smaller ball players are being restricted, especially at the later mod league level.
This disadvantages them further, than just being small.
If the same restrictions were placed on NRL players (No bombs and if you get caught with the ball you loose possesion) they would struggle.

Thanks for the link HC.

[Guest]

Would they be "passing thoughts"???

Funny stuff, almost "passed" a gall stone, pardon the pun

[Guest]

This year I signed up me little one to Cabramatta Juniors.

The coach while was running good tackling and passing drills, when it came to game time, the ball was just passed to a big bopper who was twice the size of kids and carried 5 kids over to score a try.

That was the whole game.

Half the kids didn't even get to touch the ball as they were dumped on the wing.