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Getting the team ready / fired up before kick off.

Does anyone have any good hints / tips / suggestions for getting a team (Under 18's Male Rugby team) fired up before the game? The problem we are having is the boys don't switch on to the game 10 / 15 / 20minutes into it. We start 1 hour before kick off with a dynamic warm up, drills, moves for the day then back in 10mins before kick off to put shirts on and captains words, then out for kick off.

Rugby CoachCoach

2 answers

ANSWERS

Simon JonesCoach, England

You could try this timeline which we used to great effect last season:

Match day preparation for 2.30pm KO

1.00pm Meet at ground

1.15pm Individual time

1.30pm Captains address in changing room

1.35pm Handling Drill 4 sides

1.40 Team dynamic stretching

1.45 Decision Making/Handling drill

1.45pm Split Forwards/Backs

2.00pm Team rucking drill 1/ 4 pads all involved 2/ 2 pads then 2 pads (forwards) then to backs

2.10pm Team width attack

2.15pm Changing rooms coaches address

2.20pm Coaches out Captain final words

2.30pm KO

WIN

Each team needs to find what suits them and so please adapt this to suit. The key is that the players run most of the pre match preparation as after all it is the players who run things when the whistle goes!

Good luck

Simon

Rugby CoachCoach

The firing up should always come from within the team and individual players. As a coach, you can only motivate so much but the strongest motivation is intrinsic.