Putting Fun First in Rugby Sessions and Beyond
Article by Joel Essex
Dave Reed, a rugby coach from Whitley Bay has coached England's young talent to girls under 12 and he has stuck to one coaching principle: put fun and young players needs first.
From starting out as coach at his local school, to coaching the cream of England’s young talent for nine years as England Under 18 Head Coach, and now as the coach for Whitley Bay Rockcliff Rugby Club girls under 12’s in his native north-east, Dave Reed has always stuck to his core coaching principle – putting fun and the needs of young players first.
Reed, who coached England stars Joe Joyce, Marland Yarde, Matt Kevesick and Jo Launcburry, is part of a new movement of child-first coaches in the sport who are putting fun at the heart of their coaching practise and giving children a voice and a choice in the way they are coached.
It is an approach that is central to Play Their Way – a national campaign to create a nation of child first sports coaches. Child-first coaching, where coaches focus on championing every child’s voice, choice and journey in sport and physical activity, aims to ensure positive experiences for every young person through the people who know them best – their coaches.
Talking about his approach to coaching, Reed said:
For me the most important thing is for the children to have a safe space to play and have fun."
Dave Reed, Rugby Coach
It’s important to make it a social experience and a learning experience where they walk away feeling good about themselves and what they’ve done. If that happens, it means that they’ll come back again and again.”
He added:
“Creating that safe space is vital. It’s so important that the children I coach can laugh and smile during a session and make mistakes. Sometimes the laughs come from the mistakes or what the children say to each other which is very natural when you have that safe space.
Talk to them about things that matter to them, to try and understand their world. I always take time to ask about school, what lessons have they had who is their favourite teacher. It’s about showing you care really.”
There are both challenges and benefits to applying child-first coaching to team sports and group physical activity, but Reed believes that rugby’s values are particularly aligned to child-first principles:
“Rugby is steeped in some strong core values – teamwork, respect, enjoyment and sportsmanship. You see how important teamwork is with a child-first approach to coaching in rugby. They want to work for each other as friends.”
Team sports also provide an opportunity for what Reed also feels is an important part of child-first coaching – socialisation, especially in age where technology and screens compete with sport for children’s attention and leisure time.
“I think the child-first approach has a really positive impact in terms of socialisation. We’ll all sit and have a hotdog together after the game or after training and that works for us. I see lots of friendships growing with the children and it improves their social skills, ability to have meaningful conversations and talk to each other about what’s going on in their lives.”
Both Kids First and Play Their Way, aim to encourage and instil coaching that prioritise children’s rights first to create positive environments and experiences for them when it comes to taking part in rugby, sport and physical activity. However, Reed sees this approach as vital to coaching across all levels of the game.
He explained:
I really believe those child-first coaching principles apply to coaching at any level of game."
Dave Reed, Rugby Coach
If you truly want to be a player centred coach, you’ve got to give players a voice, you’ve got to listen to them, you’ve got to learn from them.
“I haven’t changed my philosophy to coaching. People think that, just because you are coaching a national side, it should all be about winning but was never like that for me.
He continued:
“We always started our first sessions with new players for the England Under 18’s team by asking them what they wanted to get out of their time playing for England and what values did they want to live by. It allowed them to create their own journey.”
Reed’s coaching journey has come full circle, but one thing has remained a constant since those first experiences of coaching at Killingworth High School in Tyneside and that’s the privilege of coaching:
“I still think I’m in a privileged position as a coach – children and young people are putting their trust in you and that’s important. To me, being a child first coach is crucial to repaying that trust.”
Dave’s top child first coaching tips
Engage with parents
Get parents bought into the child first approach. Ask them to be part of the feedback chain with the children. Setting up a what’s app group with parents can be a good way of doing this.
Give them five
Always ask for continuous feedback throughout the sessions but put aside five minutes at start of the session for children to explore what they want to do and five minutes at the end to ask them what they liked, what they learned, what do they want to do next time, what was important. Use this feedback to create your next session.
Give Praise
Be specific with praise and tell children about the important bits that they did well.
Keep it social
Create time at the end of a session or a match for the children to sit down as a group and eat together (we all love having a hot dog together!). This builds friendships and social skills.
Safe Spaces
Create a safe space for your sessions where mistakes and laughter are accepted and encouraged. If they make a mistake be on hand to help them improve with little micro coaching sessions within the session.
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