Category: Player and Coach Development
Skill and the Philosophy of Play
Free-Kick
Asking the questions science has yet to answer.
When the term skill is mentioned, technical skills such passing, offloading in contact, kicking etc comes to mind. Within in a team sport like Rugby though, we are aware of mini-unit skills (set pieces) and the skill of executing tactics and strategy. Some evidence is now available for the most effective technical components of a skill, but not so much on mini-unit skills, unit skills, and the skill of executing tactics and strategy.
Throughout a player’s career or developmental pathway, emphasis and priority will be placed on certain skills over others, for example, contact skills vs non-contact skills, attack vs defence, technical over game strategy etc. This emphasis ratio or priority list is most likely governed by the team’s philosophy of play. This philosophy of play seems evident in the recent internationals, where teams are focussed on set-piece play and contact for example, compared to others teams who may run the ball more. Some teams also have a good balance. This philosophy of play is not only evident at the international level. I’m sure we all have an understanding of team’s philosophy of play within our respective local competitions.
So, what if we want to change the philosophy?
How do we go about this?
Is finding the right balance the way to go?
Are we negatively influencing a player’s development if we don’t get the balance right?
Do you have real life experience on how you changed the philosophy of play within a team? Please let us know your thoughts.
SH
Is there a need for a paradigm shift in school sports programming?
Free Kick
The current mindset of school sports is designed for short term competitive performance, but is there associated long term benefits from this?
While this mindset may facilitate performance in the early years it may be detrimental to the optimal development of the young athlete and compromise future performance. Moreover, it is likely to lead to burnout and possibly increase their relative risk of sustaining overuse injuries in their young careers. (Jefferys, I. 2008; SCJ)
“It is evident that many / most 1st year high school’ers lack much basic fitness and athleticism, thus starting out on a very low base level of physical fitness and possibly technical skill. Even though to some degree general sports skill may be fairly well developed, the same is often not true for fundamental movement patterns. Therefore, the need for effective programming to redress these issues is paramount and possibly requires a new model of development to be devised which builds these elements into long term model rather than a short term “fix”.” (Jefferys, I. 2008; SCJ)
What are your thoughts?
Wayne Lombard
Trainability of Junior Rugby Players
Rugby Science 