For players to perform well at any level of sport they must acquire a number of skills. Skill learning begins with mastery of the basic skills and techniques and progresses to applying those skills in increasingly competitive situations.

It is one of the coach’s primary responsibilities to provide the player with opportunities to learn and practise skills in a positive and constructive environment. Appropriate skill learning, especially at the junior level, can set the platform for future potential elite performance.

The skill–feedback loop demonstrates how feedback is processed when learning a skill. The model shown below is a simplified version of how each player uses feedback to assess whether or not they have responded correctly and, if not, how they should respond correctly.

Skill Execution

The player performs the skill. The motor (neuro) programme tells the muscular system which muscles to contract, and how and when to contract them to produce the desired response.
The skill execution is influenced by the player’s previous learned experiences, stage of growth and development, fitness level and degree of motivation.

Feedback

The player may receive two types of feedback response:

• Intrinsic (internal) feedback

• Extrinsic (external) feedback
Intrinsic feedback is dependent on the player’s ability to ‘feel’ the experience using sensory perception. If a skill was performed well, the player feels a sense of ‘correctness’. If the skill was not executed as intended, the player experiences a feeling of ‘error’.
The more experienced the player, the greater the accuracy in sensory evaluation. The ability to perceive what is correct in the early stages of learning a skill is less accurate because the player’s memory has not been developed enough to be able to have a good perception of correctness. Coaches should ask the player specific questions about how the skill felt when executed to encourage the player to become more self-aware.
Extrinsic feedback is given by an external source such as the coach, other players, or spectators.
The coach needs to be able to identify errors, provide information (feedback) appropriately and specifically, and then give instructions for the correct execution of the skill.

Evaluation

After receiving both intrinsic and extrinsic feedback the player must then sort the information and evaluate their performance compared to the ‘ideal model’.
Developing a player’s ability for self-awareness is important in providing a source of internal control rather than the player always depending on external sources (eg you as the coach) to evaluate the performance and tell them what to do.
Players may not have all the information about a situation so it can be difficult for them to evaluate the feedback and make the appropriate decisions. The coach can assist this process by providing clear, precise feedback that is specific to the required performance and at a level that the player can understand.
Evaluation of the performance can also be limited by the coach’s ability to give feedback and the player’s ability to receive feedback (ie communication).

Decision-Making

If the skill execution was incorrect the player must process this information further to decide what went wrong and what they can do to correct it.
One of the major limitations to performance improvement is the ability of players to make sound and appropriate decisions. By giving players opportunities to decide for themselves how or what to do to fix their own errors or identify a correct performance, the coach enables the players to practise and improve their decision-making processes.

Passive listening or remaining silent while another person speaks is how many people "listen", often without actually hearing much.

While passive listening can be appropriate at times, it does not guarantee understanding, nor does it build a relationship or any empathy with the sender.

Active listening on the other hand involves interacting with the sender, seeking clarification to ensure you fully understand what is being said. Instead of just guessing at the meaning of a message you actively work to figure it out. Being an active listener will help you to "read between the lines"; to decipher the real (sometimes hidden) meaning of the message. Read the following tips to improve your active listening skills.

Tips To Improve Your Active Listening Skills

• Adopt a neutral and relaxed posture facing the player and leaning slightly forward.

• If appropriate look at the player when communicating with him or her. Maintaining eye contact shows that you are interested in what they have to say.

• Let the player finish speaking without interruption, even if you think you know what is going to be said.

• Show that you are following what the player is saying by nodding your head and making verbal affirmations such as "Yes ... I see ... Uh-huh" every now and then.

• Repeat what was said in your own words to ensure that both of you understand what was said.

• Ask questions if you don’t understand or if you require further clarification.

• Search for the real meaning behind what is being said rather than focusing on the details.

All coaches should get to know all their players as well as they can.

This essential coaching knowledge can be hard to come by when each season brings new players with different backgrounds, experiences, and motivations.

To help all your players succeed, it is imperative to learn about each one individually and then use that information as you coach them through the trials and tribulations that a rugby season brings.Once coaches accept the responsibility to learn more about their athletes they are more likely to build strong relationships with their players and, in turn, enjoy a loyal following.

They should see growth in both the self-esteem and physical skills of athletes who will also appreciate that their coach sees them as individuals and understands their personalities.

Why Cultural Awareness?

• To help you gain a better understanding of your players and their families
• To enable you to create coping strategies for yourself, your players and your team
• To help foster understanding within your team
• To gain support from your players, their families and the wider community 

Cultural Issues A Coach Should Be Aware Of

• In all cultures family has high importance and to gain the players’ support the coach should also seek the support of the whole family.

• Religion has a huge influence in many cultures and prayer may be appropriate. The use of inappropriate language should be avoided.

• Many cultures believe making direct eye contact or speaking out of turn is inappropriate, and yet looking down and not talking can be interpreted by the coach as evidence a player is inattentive and is unwilling to interact.

• Questioning and confronting players in front of the whole team can be interpreted by a player as belittling and may be better done privately.

• As a coach, your standing (mana) in the eyes of your players will be enhanced if you take time to learn a little about their culture, are able to pronounce their names correctly, and learn some basic forms of communication, such as greeting and farewell.

• Most cultures have spiritual aspects and rituals to consider. The spirit of the group and individual should be treated with respect.

  Sweden is a society made up of many cultures, and as a coach you should be aware of the cultural differences between players, such as behaviour, beliefs and social structure that belong to these cultures.

If you are unsure how to react or communicate with a player from a different culture, then ask someone for advice, otherwise a sincere honest and friendly approach will always be appreciated.

To be an effective coach you must appreciate both the art and the science of coaching.

A coach may have a great deal of sport-specific knowledge and experience (the science of coaching), however this knowledge and experience is of little value to the player unless it can be effectively communicated (the art of coaching).

Most of the coach’s time is spent trying to transfer knowledge to their players and ensuring they understand what is expected of them.

How that knowledge is transferred or communicated is an essential ingredient of successful coaching.

Effective coaching requires not only sport-specific knowledge but also sound teaching and communication skills. Both the coach and the player must be prepared to transmit and receive information from each other. Too often, coaches transmit but do not receive information.

Good communication comes not only from what you say but how you say it. Every word and gesture sends your players messages about your attitude towards them. In fact, it is impossible to not communicate, as everything we do is communication of one type or another.

Understand Three Dimensions of Communication

To begin with the basics, we have identified three dimensions of communication:

Communication is not only about sending messages but also receiving them. Coaches should not only be able to send clear and concise messages, they also need to be astute listeners to understand what their players are communicating in return.

While most people tend to focus on communicating the verbal message, research indicates that more than 70 percent of all communication is non-verbal, such as facial expression, body language, and tone of voice. We tend to have more control over what we say than what we do.

For example, how may a coach’s body language, after a player makes a mistake, suggest annoyance or disappointment?

What effect may this have on a player?

Should a coach try to hide their body language?

The third dimension of communication is content, the factual information contained in the message, and emotion or how the sender feels about the message. Coaches can at times have difficulty containing their emotions, particularly under the pressure of intense competition.

Many coaches tend to be good at the sending, verbal and content aspects of each dimension but need to improve on the receiving, non-verbal and emotion aspects.

Donot think rugby demands quick thinking, fast feet and a solid body?

Go ahead and play for an hour and THEN tell me how you feel.

Rugby is a world-famous sport with its peculiar image, rules and culture.     Rugby football is an original mode of life; rugby culture is a sound way of thinking; a full rugby description would take volumes of printed pages.

This phenomenon is very interesting and worth special attention.

Let's begin our rugby description with rugby definition. The term "rugby football" can be considered as a general term for two similar but separate team-sports: rugby league and rugby union.

Also this term is applied to numerous variations of rugby league and rugby union and some new-invented games based on rugby. It may be applied to rugby league, rugby union, rugby sevens, touch rugby, quad rugby, American football, arena football +++.

But all these variations have something in common, something that makes them "rugby".

Rugby is a tough full-contact sport with minimum or even with no padding.

If there were no ball it would resemble a group fighting. This game contains the elements of wrestling, football and it would seem their derivative if it were not so extraordinary in form, rules and scoring.

And our rugby description would be incomplete without emphasizing some rugby peculiarities. And as we give rather general rugby description we put a great emphasis on common, general rugby rules, principles and features.

The most distinctive feature of rugby football in all its variations is an ovoid ball and one of the most important of rugby rules is prohibition of passing the ball forward. So, players can only run with the ball or kick it.

An extremely interesting episode in rugby is called "scrum" or "scrummage", where packs of competing players push against each other for ball possession.

Another set piece worth attention is "line - out" when the lines of players try to catch the ball which is thrown from the so-called "touch", the area behind the sidelines.

These episodes are more characteristic for Rugby Union.

In the league the scrum exists as well but it is not as important as in the union. As for the "lineout" it scarcely occurs.

A scoring is conducted by crediting a team with points gained from the "tries" and "goals". A "try" consists in grounding the ball over the goal line at the rival's end of field. A goal can be scored when kicking the ball over the crossbar between the goalposts.

Also there are penalty try, conversion goal, penalty goal and dropped goal. Penalty try is scored because of rival's foul play and is awarded between the goal post.

Conversion goal occurs when a player gains a try, which gives his team an opportunity to score a goal by performing a kick at goal (it applies to penalty try as well). It may be a place kick or a drop kick. Penalty goal is a goal gained from a penalty kick. Dropped goal is a goal from a drop kick.

The final point of our rugby description is rugby culture.

Rugby union is commonly considered as a team sport for gentlemen and at many private schools rugby union is played and trained along with traditional boxing and fencing.

Where as rugby league is regarded as a more "working class" game.

Thus there are two types of rugby culture. The first one is more "aristocratic" and often associated with private schools and elite universities (Oxford, Cambridge, etc.) with suits and gowns...

So, there you have it. Rugby.

/ricardo   ;-)