Irwin Mitchell Mentoring Club Making a Difference
England legends Dylan Hartley and Sarah Hunter were recently at Nuneaton and Old Leamingtonians rugby clubs, providing guidance in their ambassador roles with the Irwin Mitchell Mentoring Club.
During lockdown, Dylan and Sarah each held a Zoom mentoring session with one of the two clubs, discussing specific challenges they'd been facing. The follow-up club visits then helped them discover how the mentors had implemented their advice coming out of lockdown.
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Nuneaton’s Club Coaching Coordinator, Peter Walton, said they were looking for fresh ideas for their coaching teams and ways to keep players motivated; especially for their U16s where lockdown and having no contact rugby was having a detrimental effect.
“Dylan advised us to focus on player and coaching progression, and said parents can be great mentors too, so getting that buy-in is crucial. Empowerment is key, also. He advised us to get players making the hard decisions when training and to empower them as leaders, for the U15s/U16s especially. He emphasised how important it is, at that age, to help the players realise they are adults now and their interaction is vital to the team’s focus.
“We took his advice on-board and focused on leadership, responsibility, and empowerment, with the U16s our primary focus. Coaches were given additional support as they moved to player/team focus rather than game focus. The changes have already filtered into other age groups and we’ve tapped into former players and Physical Education leads within the club for even more support and ideas.
“Once lockdowns eased, we focused on re-establishing player bonds and player support as they came back into large groups. Player conditioning and mental welfare was at the forefront, initially. Our prime focus then went on to core skill development, majorly building their confidence and opening up a new world of player interaction, discussions and effort in all age groups.
“Leadership roles have really taken off, with U10s, 11s and 12s training together for touch. That’s brought a huge win for game play, player maturation and development. Our U14s-U18s just had to be conditioned correctly, but needed no encouragement to get back to rugby, especially contact training. Again, more focus on core skill development is achieving that confidence Dylan told us was so important.
“The Irwin Mitchell Mentoring Club has given us renewed focus. Nuneaton has been able to step back, take stock and review the development process with an emphasis on the future players of our club. This means providing better support for our coaches, so that they can provide better support for our players’ mental and physical wellbeing. It's the first step of our journey and, with our new Club Coaching Team, we’ve already seen positive changes within both the 1st Team and Colts. We’re moving in the right direction, as one club, and volunteers can see we’re following a genuine path and realise what they have to give to the club’s future.”
At Old Leamingtonians, Tim Perkins, Colts Coach and lead club mentor, said: “We wanted to make sure the club embraces everyone at all ages, and to create a pathway through the club from the youngest up to the seniors. When Sarah suggested merging training sessions, we mixed age groups together playing Ready 4 Rugby and the adapted game. All three girls’ age groups have been training together and individuals are starting to develop leadership skills both on and off the field. One of our younger senior women’s players, Nabiha Jaffri, is helping steer the girls’ section. They had a WhatsApp group, getting everyone together and connected with constant conversations, during lockdown.
“In our U14s to U18s, we’ve also merged training, with one of the two weekly sessions involving everyone. It’s enabled our younger players to create relationships with Colts players, to reduce the fear of stepping up into the higher aged team next year. It’s really given them a head start in terms of progression.
“Since we got involved as a pilot club in the Irwin Mitchell Mentoring programme, it has helped us to put structure around what we want to achieve as a club. Sarah’s guidance has been a real asset in getting us to create integration between everyone.”
Watch Dylan's club visit here, and Sarah's club visit here.
For advice and support with mentoring 14 to 18 year olds in rugby, join the Irwin Mitchell Mentoring Club on Facebook.
