Making core skills fun. Improving
core skills is important to player and team. But players, however motivated, will need some new ways of approaching core skill to add variety to practices. Here are some different ways of adding an element of fun to handling activities.Variety
Practice normal passing and then change to an unusual form of passing before returning to core pass being examined. For instance when looking at offloads, make players try one handed back flicks in tackle for a couple of rounds of drill.
Time trials
After going through some of drills, try putting a time limit on achieving a certain target, e.g. five passes in one area followed by fives passes in another in 30 seconds. The element of pressure builds a certain amount of tension, but also can lead to players enjoying success. If they can beat their times or other group’s times, they will enjoy task even more.
Unusual areas
Don’t just practice in boxes or circles, use different shapes set out by cones to force players to think in different ways. Some coaches set out a snake like shape with differing widths in which players must progress up pitch.
Also try handling on a sharper incline, or in long grass.
Different size balls
With all different types of promotional balls, as well as age group balls, there are at least five separate sizes of rugby ball out there. Don’t just practice with one size, get players to handle using all shapes and sizes in one practice. The variety of shapes will challenge players to change way they may take and give a pass.
