Dealing with Breaktime and Injuries

Parents, please make sure your kids know that at no time will any Fort Hunt Rugby coach give them a hard time, yell, or otherwise make them feel bad if they feel unwell, thirsty, hot, tired, or are injured. If a player needs a break, then they should take it immediately.

Summer is here, and the weather already is hot, and it will get hotter. If a player needs to take a heat or water break, then by all means they should do so. We will break a minimum of every 30 minutes during practice (6:30, 7:00, and 7:30), and more often if the players request it and/or if the weather requires it. If a player needs water or to cool down, they need to do just that.

For injuries, players need to immediately tell a coach if they feel they've been injured. We have basic medical kit with us at every practice and game, and can effect some treatment immediately. If the injury is more severe, we will make immediate decisions on what needs to be done (senior coaches have training in basic evaluation and emergency action). We can do none of this if the player does not communicate this to us.

The coaches will reinforce this message at practices.

--Coach Dacey

We're Just About Ready to Play

Another great practice last night, with the weather cool and the ground soft.

So, with last night's practice, we have trained in all of the basics of rugby. We know the basics of passing, with the loop, switch, skip and dummy, and we know the basic calls for running lines. We know the basics of the scrum, ruck, maul and lineout, and we're familiar with kickoffs, penalty plays and 22m dropouts. So now it's time to put it all to the test with some real competition.

I'm looking forward to Saturday, as our kids will get to play a lot of rugby and finally put into real practice the things we've been doing at training. I think many of them will see that real competition poses unique challenges.

Thank you to all of our volunteers to get our social together for Saturday. Let's play some rugby and have some fun.

--Coach Dacey

Excellent Thursday Night Practice

Really great practice last night, team, both the tackle players and our touch players. Big thanks to all of our coaches: Andy, Dale, Jim, Steve, Casey, Katie, Dave and Dave, for coming out to help these kids learn about rugby. Their progress in the last two weeks has been fantastic.

I really liked the way the tackle players were taking to the ruck last night, showing good sense of off-side, entering through the gate, etc. The one thing we need to work on is quickly setting up an offensive line coming from a ruck, and having the patience to hold the ball for a few more seconds to let it come together. We also need to work on setting up a defensive formation against a lost ruck. We'll work on both of those next week.

Next week:

Lineouts. We'll set our basic calls and practice lifting and setting.

Penalty plays. We'll get our basic penalty plays set, and we'll practice all of them.

Rolling Maul. We'll introduce the maul, and then introduce and practice the rolling maul, one of my personal favorites.

And we start playing on Saturday the 20th. It's going to be great.

--Coach Dacey

Finally Started Tackle Practice

We had a good first tackle practice last night, with all but two tackle players having their mouthpieces.

We are working incrementally to introduce tackling concepts and actions for ball carriers, too. We will work up gradually to more intense tackling drills, making sure all players are ready before we move up.

The five tackling fundamentals:
Hips below the level of the head (low position)
Back straight
Head up (not chin up or chin down, eyes open)
Tackler's head behind the seat of the ball carrier
Wrap with one or both arms

--Coach Dacey

The Coaches, Playing Rugby!

On Sunday, 7 June, Head Coach John Dacey and Commissioner/Coach Andy Vonada played with the visiting Harrisburg Old Boys (Hobos) against the hosting Wild Geese (Vienna and BRYC youth coaches playing for them) at Lock Overlook Farm near Poolesville, MD. It was really hot, but Andy and John managed to play four full periods out of six, with Andy hooking and propping, and John at second row. Neither scored, but both had tackles and runs, and their share of old-boy goof-ups.























In the end, it didn't matter who won or lost, because we'd had a great afternoon meeting new mates and playing rugby.



So, Fort Hunt players, when we're telling you how it is, believe us; we did it just yesterday.

Getting Ready for Tackle/Contact

Okay, the time is finally here, the one the older kids have been waiting for: contact.

I stress to parents: our first priority in this club is players' safety. We have gone three full seasons without a single injury, and I intend to prolong this record as long as possible. We do that by stressing safety at all times.

There are two components to this: a player's physical maturity and approach, and his mental maturity and approach.

We are not playing football, where just about all forms of contact are permitted, and any player on the field is eligible to be hit at any time. The terms of contact in rugby are much more specific, even constrained, for the purposes of flow of the game and for players' safety. We aren't wearing any pads; we cannot go crazy with tackling and contact, we cannot throw our bodies around as if we were protected head to toe by foam and hard plastic. If we do so, our players and opponents are going to get hurt.

Our coaches will observe and evaluate all players and their progress in contact training. If our club is not ready to play tackle rugby, we will not until we are ready. If an individual player is not ready to play tackle rugby, he will not be permitted to do so until the coaches consider him ready. This is physical as well as mental, having learned the vital aspects of contact taught at practice, and having demonstrated them to the coaches.

Physical discipline is important here. The object of the tackle is to halt an opponent's forward movement, and to bring him to the ground for the opportunity to gain possession of the ball. We do not measure yardage, so there is no point (except at the try line) of standing a player up and driving backwards; all that matters is to bring the player down, and quickly. Extra effort in a tackle is wasted effort; play is continuous for a 25-minute half, so over-exertion in every contact is not wise.

We also will train players in emotional discipline. There is no reason to think of contact with an opponent as a "hit." It's just a tackle. There should be no emotion involved. They will tackle us and we them, because that's the nature of the game. So to become angry at or as a result of contact is counterproductive, even selfish, taking a player's mind away from the game and away from useful contribution to his team. The referee will deal with foul play; all other contact is simply part of the game.

So, players and parents, let's start tackling, but in control.
Coach Dacey

LeBron James: Poor Sportsman, Negative Role Model

After the Orlando Magic eliminated Lebron James' Cleveland Cavaliers from the NBA playoffs on Saturday and James refused to shake hands with his opponents, The New York Times quoted James: "It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them. I'm a winner. It's not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm a competitor."

Wrong. The ultimate competitor is the athlete who makes self, teammates and the game better, through sportsmanship. James is superb on levels 1 and 2. On Level 3, he fell down, badly. He has show himself to be selfish, arguably arrogant, and clearly has no concept of how he is to behave if he is to be a positive role model.

James, admirable in so many ways, is sending a bad message to youth athletes: he, as a "competitor," is too upset by losing to honor the game he plays and which supplies his livelihood.

Former NFL coach Herm Edwards nailed it. "The game is sacred....When you are out on the field, you must remember your legacy and what you are representing."

The best competitors are strong enough to make the game better by overcoming their disappointment--and even anger--to congratulate their opponents at the toughest time, right after they've beaten you. Your opponents will remember this gesture, and you will earn respect by showing your discipline and courage.

-- adapted from a message from Jim Thompson, Positive Coaching Alliance Founder and Executive Director