In the mid 1990s when I started my long and enjoyable stint in Rugby Coaching there were a mixture of things I had learnt [and continued to learn] from my experiences as a player, from playing under other coaches and from everything I knew about 'teaching' and hanging around with a bunch of rugby players in a club with a strong identity.
Lower grade teams need some extra effort in team building... you have a mix of 'old heads', players who feel they should be playing up higher, youngsters with talent, others just learning and you usually have more than you need any given week, until it gets cold and deep into the season. You have to manage people getting 1/2 games or 20 mins, the fact that it being a game for people of all sizes, some positions require bulk etc etc
In this particular year I thought 4th grade wasn't particularly valued by other grades and we were all packed into a training ground where 4ths were left with the dodgy corner. One way of growing a unique identity was to strike a t-shirt celebrating 4ths and adding our club philosophy of "just run it"... The cartoon was our 1991 World Cup winning Wallaby front three that I kept from a book or magazine at the time... It features right to left, Tony Daly, Phil Kearns and current Wallaby Coach Ewen 'The Link' Mckenzie and became a sought after item only available to those with our squad for a while!!
It sits on my trophy/memorabilia shelf with some other cups, shields and mugs...
Our traditional rivals The Slime and Maitland were tough to overcome and Uni gave us grief but it was a rich decade of 4th Grade premiership tilts that we all enjoyed!!
I share it this week as I sign on to give some time to the Club helping others to deliver on 'player welfare' and the Prez and I head off to the two day 'Mental Health 1st Aid' Course!! I look forward to assisting 'House Captains' in delivering some significant "Tall Tales" with food and beverages during the season!!
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