It’s my second season co-coaching the Wainuiomata Women’s team. This is the club I played most of my rugby out of. Eventually wrestling a blazer off them for the 100 plus games I spent on the pitch. I transitioned from player to coach last season, having spent the season before more or less running the forwards anyway.
Last season was a challenge. I wrote about it at the time but we ended up having to merge with our neighbouring club, Hutt Old Boys Marist. We merged but kept both our names on the team, essentially so we could make sure that their long serving club members could have the opportunity to earn their blazers.
We did well, pulling together a team that ended up taking out the second division championship.
We even pushed our club to allow the players to wear their jersey of origin in the official end of year photo.
In this first season coaching women’s club rugby I learnt a lot. I’m definitely more of a softy than I thought I’d be. Which is a surprise to everyone, not least those that played opposite me. My co-coach Mary-Ann Collins is firmer but always fair. I love watching her lead because I can see the influence of so many in our community in the way she communicates.
Coming into this season, I knew early we wouldn’t be in the same position. It wasn’t going to be a struggle for numbers, leading us to milk minutes out of those we had. 12 players started regularly turning up for the whole club preseason and honestly, I was shocked. To see that many players, that early and that comfortable to jump in to all the drills alongside the men’s players is not something you get every season.
This new wave we have coming through is something different though. They are entitled in the best type of way. They fully believe that the club space is their space. And it is, now. It’s taking a good 10 plus years to turn the club around to truly welcome our women’s side but we are getting there. The way these players carry themselves and their expectations underlines that fact.
All of this is wonderful but has led me to a whole new headache. We currently have 39 registered players. I would say of that, 35 are regularly turning up each week. Of these 39, 24 are forwards. Every week, I have to help assemble the team list of 22, picking from my forward pack of 24. I absolutely hate it.
Last year our mantra was “first round survive, second round thrive”. This season it’s been about “how we grow and how we go”. The balance of those two pieces is so difficult when we have a squad of our size and such a limited season. Gone are the days of 20+ game club seasons. This year, with a record low of 7 teams participating, we have only have 10 assured matches. Made up of round one with 6 round robin games followed by a split in round two. Here we will play another 3 round robin matches and then an assured semi final.
Just 10 guaranteed games this season to try and get these 39 women out on the pitch. Just 10 games too to get them playing up to their potential. This is why I dread naming my forward pack each week.
It feels counter to everything we are trying to build to leave those that are showing up, that are learning, on limited minutes. But rugby is a hard game to find your feet in. I have been playing experience alongside developing talent in this first round, giving them just enough room to build confidence. To develop the strength before putting too much weight on their shoulders.
This has meant that our score lines are not necessarily the blow outs that other matches in our grade have seen. But if we have given a chance to a player to have their first run, that’s more valuable than scoring a boat load more tries. You only pick up one bonus point for four tries anyway. So once that jobs done, it’s onto the next. How do we grow from here?
The team this year after their first win against old rivals, Ories, in eight years.
I say picking teams is difficult for me but that is only really because I know that these choices, who is in and out, are painful for players. They are here, showing up, because they want to play and my decisions may be what prevents them from getting that opportunity. It’s a process I remember all too well from my playing days and one I try to approach with the same care I wish I had been shown.
It’s not perfect but these are the steps I go through:
Who are we playing and what opportunities do we have here?
That’s the question I ask myself first when looking at a team. I’ve been in this club scene since 2002 so I’m pretty familiar with other clubs style of play. There are changes of course, as squad make up shifts and new coaches come in but it’s not hard to keep an eye on patterns.With that in mind, is this more of a grow game or a go game? That’s going to impact who I start, who I bench and who I rest this week. It has meant that sometimes our typical starters are on the sideline as they are there to pick others up when the time comes.
What’s the balance on the pitch when I make changes?
This is something I’ve been working at over the season as it means developing an understanding of who are game drivers are and who our energy boosters are.
Who I start has to be selected in conjunction with who may end up replacing them with. You need to understand how that will shift the on field dynamic.
I’m going to say here, I believe being a bench player is as much a learnt skill as passing and tackling. It takes a different approach on game day and not everyone is good at it.
Whose missing and whose moved?
Now I have my list, I make a note of all the players I am resting and message them directly well before any announcements take place. This is so important. No celebration of a team naming can happen if you are simultaneously holding space for commiserations. If you aren’t letting people feel and have room for an expression of that, good and bad, you aren’t going to succeed as a team.
I don’t do this face to face but via DMs. This is to give them a moment to process and then come back to me as suits. In this message, I try to explain to them my reasoning for their omission and I’m there to answer any questions that may come up.
I do the same for those that have had a drastic move. This is generally when it’s a switch from start to bench. Just to give feedback on why this change has been made and what it is I’m looking for this week.
At the end of the day I guess it’s a case of, if we are making the choices we have to willing to explain the why. And if we can’t then we shouldn’t be making them. I just try to be as transparent in my process as possible and to front foot things so that players don’t start inventing their own narratives in the gap.
All of this takes care and time. But if you’re not up for that, why are you coaching?
With you,
Alice