Playing coach with Janna Vaughan
On carving your own path to the coaches box and beyond
I have known Janna Vaughan in the same way I have known many players from Manawatū. For a long time, she was my neighbour in the Farah Palmer Cup. But in the more modern way, where might give each other a nod on the driveway but aren’t popping around to each others houses asking for cups of sugar.
I’ve been watching her though. Peeping through the window of social media as she makes her renovations. Transforming herself from player to coach. A rebuild more players of our generation are currently undertaking.
It was only a couple of weeks ago, that she actually popped her head through my fence. Janna replied to something I had said on an Instagram story and I saw my opening. I’d had questions about her remodel. She was one of the earlier cohort to go to Japan while still playing. She’s retraced these steps now as a coach.
With so many of our neighbourhood heading abroad to get their first proper start in coaching, I was curious. What was it about these offshore opportunities that was allowing our women to grow beyond the grass ceilings we have so firmly rooted in Aotearoa.
I had questions and Janna had answers. She had ideas too. So today I am sharing these with you, in her own words.
Janna was in the news most recently as her club had signed the Woodman-Wickliffes player coach duo ahead of the Super Rugby Aupiki season.
I'm a teacher by trade and I was playing rugby at the same time. So it was just natural for me to get into coaching in the high school space. My first real teaching job was at Freyberg High School in Palmerston North and I did a little sevens group there. Then I actually got an opportunity to work at Manukuru so I developed that programme. That girls rugby programme was my little baby for three, four years.
I came to Japan while I was still playing for the Black Ferns. I played here and Kristina Sue took over the Manukura girls. I was back and forth between playing here and coaching at Manukura. Obviously I made a pretty good impression here in Japan in terms of my playing as well as my ability to coach people around me and analyse the game. I helped a lot with our game planning, deconstructing the game. I got some good results as a player and an analyst.
Watching Manukura now, I’m just super proud of the way that it's growing. To have been pioneering in that space and then to see it progress. They'll always be that team in the secondary space that I cheer for. I still have really good connections to the kura and to the people. Obviously, Kristina Sue being a friend and Rhiarna Ferris. The leaders there at the moment, with Ilane Durie who has now taken over, I still really feel a sense of belonging to that place and I always will. So really, really happy to see that they're going for their three-peat. I’m cheering for them.
In terms of getting certified, level one and two were quite easy. Level three is a bit harder, I’m yet to get my level threes. I want to progress through that but it’s difficult when you're full time coaching. As a head coach, I can't take time away from the team. When I was back in New Zealand, I was able to do the coach educator course but the level three is quite difficult because it's always at the same time as FPC (Farah Palmer Cup) stuff. So that's still on my list to do level three.
In this space in Japan and I suppose with Northland Rugby too, just my experience was enough. But I think if I'm wanting to progress to that next level, it would be good to have the certs. It's the same in Japan though, it's hard to get level three. There's only a certain amount of coaches that get nominated twice a year. It's probably a conversation that needs to be had. How can we make it a little bit more accessible?
I think we just need a clearer pathway with coaching. With the level one, two and three, we need to get in behind the coaches. I think there's a big opportunity in that space to grow the coaching programmes. We're growing the rugby programmes but that needs to work alongside the coaching programmes as well.
The full time nature of coaching here in Japan, not so much the grass time but just the ability to be a full time coach was the drawcard. Obviously, the team that I coach is a team I played for. It was always my intention to come back here to help. The girls were all like, ‘Come back, come coach’. So that was a pull as well. The ability to be a full time coach is lovely. I get to think about coaching all day. I'm from an education background, so I'm still an educator but within a setting that I love.
It's a full time gig but there's still challenges. These challenges create change and growth. So just across the board, I feel like I've grown not just as a coach but as a person, as a mentor. Because I played here as well, just learning the boundaries between being a player and being a coach. Understanding the players perspective but learning how to navigate that. We've got a lot of those coaches coming out of New Zealand at the moment making this transition.
Janna in the middle with her team, the Mie Pearls
There's something in Japan called honne and tatemae. It's a layered cultural concept but if I were to try and translate it in it's most surface form, it is the idea that you have two faces. Where honne is your honest self, who you are behind closed doors, with your close group, your friends and your family. Then tatemae is the face that you show to society or to your company, to ensure you are upholding the societal norms. There's a lot more to it but this element of Japanese culture has helped inform my transition from player to coach.
I come from a martial arts background so there are shades of this concept there too. Your game face or fight face versus you off the field. You’re just a different person. It's the same in coaching. When I'm at rugby, I’m Janna the coach and I talk like this - ‘We are doing this. Stop talking, it’s time to run’. Then after training, I'm Janna, just me. I'm able now to shift in and out of those spaces.
At the start, it was quite difficult. I wanted to keep everything fun and light because that's what I liked as a player. But it doesn't always work. I had to have a couple of conversations with players like, ‘Hey, don't speak to me like that at training’. I’m your coach in this space. So the way that we interact here needs to be in a professional manner or how you would treat anyone else that was coming in which caused a little bit of discomfort. Having those hard conversations at the start, actually enabled me to be coach Janna. Which then allowed me to be the understanding, loving, caring, relationship based Janna outside of that.
I've been able to really do that effectively here in Japan. When I went home to Northland, same kind of thing. Still navigating that space and just understanding that I am probably a young coach. But I've been successful here with it, so I know that I can do it.
Unfortunately, I think our ambitious women coaches are growing overseas. Which is a little bit sad for New Zealand Rugby because we need to grow our space, right? But there are opportunities overseas that allow you the full time nature of a programme. So you've got Japan where every club is basically full time. Or the coaching staff in England, they'll be semi-professional. Then you've got America, they've got the PR sevens and are starting the WER in 15s. There's also opportunities in Spain that are paid positions.
All of these opportunities are all in club teams. I think there needs to be more opportunity or more investment in New Zealand. I just think, especially in Japan, there's companies that are willing to invest in women's rugby. It is a minority sport in Japan but they're still willing to invest. I don't know if we don't have the money in New Zealand or what, but they are willing to invest here which opens up opportunities.
The reason I coach is to give back. So it’s not necessarily what I can get or where I can get to. So as long as I'm in a space where I'm able to add value and give back to the game that I love, I’m happy. If it means that doors open then I'll explore them or not. I’m not gunning to be the next Black Ferns coach. My ambition is people and wanting to grow.
A gap that I've seen in the Aupiki season is the individual preparation time. It could align with the Japanese calendar, in terms of sending players over here as training partners. Not even having to really be involved in the competition but being here, being involved within a full programme. Getting essentially just lots of rugby and as opposed to lots of drills, especially for players in places that are quite isolated. So I see an opportunity here as opposed to a downside of Aupiki. If New Zealand Rugby and the Aupiki teams are open to it.
It could look like connecting our programmes, to ensure that players are getting growth the whole year. We've got high performance spaces in New Zealand and some do it really well because they've got lots of numbers. Others are struggling because of numbers and resources. I do see an opportunity in this space but I’m just one little Māori over here with an idea.
We do have a couple of players right now. It'll be interesting to see how they front up, especially at the start of the season. Portia Woodman-Wickliffe will be going to the Blues and Ngano Tavake will be going to the Hurricanes. Last year, we had Shakira Baker, who was outstanding for the Hurricanes. We had Nijiho Nagata, a Japanese player with the Blues, Seina Saito with the Chiefs and Tafito Lafaele also with the Blues.
From their feedback, they said it set them up really, really well heading into their campaigns. The Japanese League isn't a real heavy contact load, so they come quite fresh into the environment. So keep an eye on those doing the same this season and see how well they go.
Thank you again to Janna for sharing so freely with us. I know I will be keeping a keen eye on these players in the season ahead! There’s a lot in there too that I will be taking for myself as a baby coach.
The idea of a tighter collaboration between New Zealand and Japanese Rugby is also intriguing to me. If done right, I believe it would be mutually beneficial to the growth of both unions. Our relationship with Japanese women’s rugby goes back to the origins of the modern era. They were Japanese teams that came to take part in Rugby Fest back in 1990. So they are were there at our beginning and could well be a part of our future.
When faced with limited resources, the idea of leveraging offshore opportunities for growth is not new. It’s arguably a large part of Canada’s current success. So I do hope it’s something that can grow beyond the largely symbolic Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between the Chiefs Manawa and Mie Pearls last season.
Plenty to think about but plenty to hope for too.
With you,
Alice