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Spike’s piece, quoted in part here, was written for a regular RFU technical coaching bulletin, to which the Director of Rugby Coaching at Stanford University in the USA subscribes. He responded via the RFU. The USA has by far the largest number of women rugby players in the world.
Here are Jonathan Griffin’s comments in full:
* Men are most definitely from Mars and Women most definitely from Venus, not any more so then when on a practice field. They must be coached differently; where language is used differently; pitch of voice is different; dynamic of the drills/activities/games are different; emphasis on teaching points are different. This is simply because women’s and men’s motivation to play is generally very different.
* I believe that every coach should have a copy of the following book. ‘Gender and Competition: How men and women approach work and play differently’ written by Kathleen J. Deboer (see Amazon, cost: US$14). I have found the following diagram from the book very useful as a summary of how to approach the coaching of the two sexes.Women: accepted–> train –> compete
Men: train –> compete –> acceptedGary Street (England HC [Head Coach]), Kathy Flores (Eagles HC), Franck Boivert (ex-Women’s World XV Coach) and Daryl Suasua (ex-Black Ferns Coach) are four excellent examples of high quality coaches working within the women’s game. The women’s game with its current global boom is calling out for the highest quality of coaching. I believe it starts at understanding the underlying motivations of why women play the game. Without this understanding we will never be able to coach the technical or tactical aspects of the game to the team and the experience will be one of frustration and unfulfilled potential by all parties.
I would like to add that coaching women is a real pleasure. As outlined already, women adore their team, want their peers to be good at what they do, support their peers and ask questions because they have a deep seated desire to learn and understand. They will work on aspects of their game that is required to make the team better. It is worth noting that these qualities can also be hindrances to individual and team improvements, and as such the need to set high standards with women is critical. Encouraging them to ‘smash the self imposed glass ceiling’ of what they perceive is the limit to how good they, as individuals and as a team, could be is a critical motivating factor to the success of coaching female rugby players.
Weighting up the pro’s and con’s I believe working with women has made me a better ‘coach’ and I would encourage all coaches to give it a try. You will immediately gain a greater understanding of you strengths and weakness as a ‘coach’.
Thanks
Griff—
Jonathan Griffin
Stanford Rugby - Director of Coaching
Update: By subsequent email, Griff suggested that:
the less elite the girls, and / or less experienced, the more literal the points outlined. You find that elite women such as Charlotte Barras are motivated very similarly to that of male players. But critically not the same as male players!
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Whilst Girls’ (and Women’s) Rugby is not fundamentally different to the male game, coaching female teenagers is not the same as coaching male teenagers. A coach with years’ experience with boys’ teams is not going to get the best from girls if he or she treats them as if there was no difference.
Here are a few thoughts from others. I claim no magic insights - I’m not a coach, and have not been involved in boys’ rugby since I was a (mediocre) player a very very long time ago.
The first is with thanks to Spike Milligan from Swaffham:
In the few training sessions I have taken (Swaffham has a new Girls Section consisting largely of inexperienced U15s) and others I’ve observed it is very clear that a totally different approach (to boys) is needed to effectively coach the girls. For example with the boys squad you can very quickly set up a scenario and throw them into it. They will not have listened but will have a clear thought of what they just heard so a series of stops and adjustments are needed to guide them into the areas I want to focus on and even then the tendency to excel as an individual is still strong for them. An example is we are going to run a quick session on using an overlap to allow a winger to score, set up 4 v 5 and start. The first pass is good but the runner tries to break the line ignoring the overlap and thinking he can score.
Having tried the same approach with the girls team, they want to check understanding, ask loads of questions(normally very loudly and at the same time) and ensure as a group they understand and then go out and execute the move with only coaching needed on the technical aspects of the timing of the pass, running lines etc.
The girls also seem to work as a team and are supportive and positive with their team – mates both on the pitch and off it. They have a huge range of skills within the squad with total beginners plying alongside girls who are at CB or higher representation levels. This doesn’t show in their training or playing and they all work hard for each other. Comparing this to the boys again they are times when due to criticising or arguing during a match the team performance has been negatively affected. Admittedly this is not the norm and they do work well as a team but some relationships within it have been tested at times.
The second is with thanks to the indefatigable John Birch of Letchworth.
I was chatting to a local schoolteacher….. about the difference between teaching groups of boys and girls. Her analysis of it was interesting.
Basically she said that boys will respond best to criticism (then followed by praise), but for girls it is the other way around - you should always start with the praise and then follow up with the criticism, ie. how they can improve.
It may seem a minor thing, but if you get it the wrong way round she has found that boys only hear the praise and switch off before you get to the criticism (on the grounds, perhaps, that they think its “job done”), whereas girls worry about the criticism to the extent that perhaps their confidence if hit and so never hear the subsequent praise, or fail to take it on board. She commented that it was one reason why girls do so much better in schools now - because teachers are encouraged to praise and be positive at all times, resulting in an atmosphere where boys level off while girls forge ahead.
Thinking about it I am sure she is right - and it applies equally to coaching as well as formal teaching. It is noticeable how the girls at Letchworth at least have respond differently to different coaches, and I did wonder quite why - quite what the difference was. In retrospect a lot of it I think has been due to some coaches coaching the girls in the same way as they would boys, while others (either because that is their style, or because they subconciously change their style) adopt a different approach.
Try applying the thinking not only to U15s or U18s, but if you run a minis section, might this help attract and retain girls all the way through to when they finish U12, and can play girls-only rugby?
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Due to Wymondham being under snow still, and a heavy frost being forecast tonight, tomorrow’s Girls Play! Day has been postponed to 30th MARCH.
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When she is not captaining Sudbury U18s, Heather Stammers attends West Suffolk College in Bury St Edmunds. This makes her eligible for the British Colleges Women’s Rugby Programme. Along with two Essex players, Heather has had the call to win a cap for the British Colleges England Team.
Shown here being lifted in a line-out by fellow Sudbury players, Heather will run out at Lock, her usual position, on Saturday 2nd February against Scottish Colleges in Edinburgh.
Her achievement is just reward for her hard work training with the West Suffolk College Rugby Academy squad at Bury St Edmunds.
She will not have long to rest on her laurels - RFUW East Region Training is at Upminster the following morning, and I am assured she plans to be there!
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First off, many thanks to all at Holt for making Day 4 a huge success (with 47 players, it was the biggest day yet). The afternoon was put together by Terry Skyrme and Sally Whitman in a way which was commented on (favourably!) by all.
A Big Welcome to Fakenham, who attended for the first time, bringing 10 U15s and 2 U18s.
For any interested, numbers attending from a total of 6 clubs were:
Under 15s - 34 from: Fakenham, Holt, Swaffham, Diss, Wymondham and Ely.
Under 18s - 13 from: Holt, Ely, Fakenham, and Diss.
DAY 6 will be at Wymondham RFC this Sunday 3rd February. Click the link for directions.
Please arrive at 1.30pm for a 2pm start, and if you have not done so already, email numbers to Eulalie Mayers (Programme Manager) as soon as possible.
DAY 7 will be the following Sunday at Swaffham RFC. Email numbers to Eulalie Mayers (Programme Manager) by mid-day Thursday 7th February. Please arrrive at 12.30 for a 1pm start.
There will be then be a pause for a few weeks, with Day 7 being on 9th March at Beccles RFC. The programme will end with Day 8 at Diss on 16th March.
About Girls Play!
The “Girls Play!” programme is designed to offer players the chance to apply the basic skills they have learnt at their home clubs in a game environment with a good number of players
You can download general information here
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Most of us at grassroots level know little if anything of who does what amongst the senior management of the RFUW.
Yesterday, a change was announced which is worth recording.
Carol Isherwood is stepping down as Director of Rugby.
Why is this important to us? Two reasons:
Firstly, it is worth recording the departure of one of the longest serving and most dedicated servants of women’s rugby. Isherwood was a founding member of the RFUW in 1983 (i.e long before many of those who read this site were born!).
Her profile on the RFUW site includes the following information:
As a founding member of the RFUW in 1983, Carol Isherwood also sat as its first secretary. From there, she was appointed to a number of volunteer board roles over the next 15 years. Her achievements in sport are many, from working for the Westminster City Council for 10 years as the Sports Development Manager, to being the first Captain of the Women’s Great Britain Squad (1986) and the Women’s England Squad (1987). Carol is also a Level 3 coach, and has coached Richmond (girls, second and first teams), the South Division, England Emerging and the England Squad (Assistant Coach). Carol was recently awarded an OBE (2003) for Services to Women’s Rugby.
The other reason this change is worth marking, is Carol’s prime responsibility to
Direct and manage strategies for the development and growth of women and girls rugby.
Organisations change as they grow, and the RFUW’s capacity to support junior grassroots rugby has evolved and improved very swiftly over the last few years. Given that “The RFUW Board will be reviewing the current staffing structures before any further announcements”, her departure seems bound to have further implications for our area of the game.
We wish her all the very best in whatever she does next.
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UPDATED 5th March
This year’s trials for places in the RFUW East Region Squads saw the strongest competition for places yet, and a tight cap on squad sizes, so to those of you who were selected, many congratulations, and to those of you who did not make it, please don’t be downhearted.
Girls Rugby in this part of the world is still very ‘young’, and whilst all of you who went forward have great potential, you who didn’t make the cut this time either lack experience and game time in comparison to others, or simply have the maddening disadvantage of being younger (and often smaller) than those you were trialling against.
So - carry on playing and enjoying the game, and remember that next year, 1/3 of each squad will move on, and you will no longer be the ‘new kids on the block’ (unless you are moving from U15 to U18 - but that’s another matter!)
Moving smartly on……..
U15s selected were:
Rachel Burroughes - Wymondham
Kelsey Davis - Swaffham
Alex Grant - Sudbury & Basford
Jess Harris - North Walsham and Basford
Claire Johnston - Diss
Katie Parke - Swaffham
Maya Wittmore-Tennent - Ely
U18s selected were:
Sasha Acheson - Sudbury
Stacey Hargrave - Sudbury
Emma Jamieson - Ely
Mishka Mayers - Subdury
Jessica Ryan - Sudbury
Heather Stammers - Sudbury
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For those of you who are trialling for the U15 or U18 regional squads this Sunday:
* Best of Luck, and
* Make sure you enjoy the day. You have an excellent opportunity to learn something as well as to show off your skills and determination.
Moving on to the details - please note the following:
You MUST bring a completed parental consent form. No signature from your parent or guardian - NO TRIAL - NO EXCEPTIONS
The Venue is:
The Pavillion
The Coopers Coborn & Company School
St Mary’s Lane
Upminster
Essex
RM14 3HS
Arrive for 10.00am,
Registration (check) and issue of training shirts and brief introduction to the Regional Programme l0.00-10.45
Players assembled on pitches 10.45am
It is anticipated that the trials will last approx 2-2.5 hrs
Please bring a packed lunch as there are no catering facilities on site.
Teas, coffees, soft drinks etc will be available from the regional staff volunteers.
See you then (I’ll be helping with the U18 paperwork stuff).
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Over the next 3-5 years, Eastern Counties plan to support the development of 10 or more thriving Girls’ Sections across Cambs, Norfolk and Suffolk, each able to field a full team consistently at both U15 and U18.
That will mean around 400 players, rather than the 60-80 spread across 12 clubs at present. In five years time, 60 players across Eastern Counties could be passing from Girls’ to Women’s Rugby each year.
This is a huge ambition, and work has been going on behind the scenes over the last three months to develop a strategy to underpin and help fund this growth.
Over the next few weeks, there will be a series of ‘Girls Workshops’ to explain what has been done so far, and to ask you for your ideas and thoughts about this emerging strategy to make Girls’ Rugby sustainable.
In order to support your club, Eastern Counties needs your input, so if you want to see Women’s and Girls’ Rugby grow and thrive, please can you make every effort to come.
Eastern Counties attendees will include Norman Potter as Chairman of the Girls Committee, Roger Pierson, ECRU Hon Sec, and either Amanda Bate or Andrew Skipper from the RFUW.
Dates and venues are as follows:
Thurs 24th Jan 2008 Stowmarket - Suffolk,
Tues 5th Feb 2008 Amber Lodge, Acle - Norfolk,
Tues 19th Feb Ely RFC - Cambs
All meetings to start at 7.30pm.
If you wish to come to the event nearest to you, please email Lisa Greetham at Eastern Counties this to confirm who will be attending from your club.
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Rugby Union for Girls and Women in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk
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