POST!

Where to BEGIN?!

I forgot my freakin' rugby journal (yes, "the rugby diaries" is actually a tangible item as well as a blog!) yesterday at practice so I didn't get a chance to jot down everything I wanted to recap like I normally do. However, I think I still have retained the gist.
....but no promises.

We started off with a fun rugby game in order to get into the mindset of defending...
SIDE NOTE: I need to be reminded to keep special track of these games because they are not only very helpful drills for rugby teams, they are also great fun ways to promote rugby awareness to younger populations - like all the way down to the elementary age. I wish I had more of these games in my back pocket when I worked with high school aged boys in Chicago because it gets rid of people's initial fear of the contact and aggression involved with rugby but still teaches a lot of important skills.
This subject was on my mind a lot yesterday when a rugger told me that I could promote rugby to little girls because one in a grocery store recently thought I was Elsa....if Elsa plays rugby, little girls all over the world can too!

BOOM. This is gonna be a thing.

Anyways, we played a fun game that involved defending a small triangle made from cones. Basically, the triangle was a try zone that an attacking team would attempt to touch the ball down in. The attacking team would set up wide around the area of the triangle and the defenders would start in the triangle itself. The defenders could throw/kick off the ball anywhere they wanted to, but they were not allowed to move out of the triangle and start defending until the attacking team picked up the ball and started playing. The attacking team could pass the ball any way they wanted to (forwards or backwards), but once they were tagged by the defense they were not allowed to move. After being tagged 3 times, the attacking and defending teams would switch roles (defenders would become attackers, etc.).
This game helped practice a variety of defending techniques, each having it's own benefits and costs. It helps practice not getting sucked in by an attacker and making sure to cover all space and gaps when playing defense. So much communication is involved. Matching up one-on-one sometimes worked but also sometimes backfired. If you match up on defense but don't stay flat/together then you leave a lot of spaces for people to cut through. There needs to be a balance of both.

In order to prepare for our game this upcoming Saturday, we put a lot of focus into setting up a defense tight off of a ruck and heavily dependent on forwards play. This is almost ironic for me to write because I feel like I just recently discussed why we were too dependent on that in our last game, which left the wing/outside wide open. However, different teams have different strengths that they utilize and many times you need to cater your tactics (especially on defense) to combat theirs.

'Tis a strategy, if you may. (SIDE NOTE: like cats and rugby? Check out my tumblr -  Rugby as Told by Cats!)
And whilst practicing crashes/bangers off of rucks and ensuring that the space tight off of a ruck is covered, we didn't fail to neglect the outside. We practiced both - heavily guarding the rucks and still covering the backs on the outside.


But the main thing we needed to take away from practicing our defensive structure is just how important setting up posts really is. If you've never heard this term before, posts are almost a very literal translation from what it is as an inanimate object to what it is as a person. When a ruck occurs, the first two defenders that reach it (after, of course, there are already people rucking) immediately set up tight off the last foot of the ruck and loudly communicate the position to the rest of their teammates. They become not only markers for where the rest of the defensive line needs to set up but they are also pillars standing in the way of a quick pick and go attempt. Many teams, especially ones with a strong forwards game, will utilize that space right off of a ruck because it can unknowingly be left open and an easy gap to sneak through.
Another important matter regarding the posts is that once two people designate themselves as the defensive posts off of a ruck, they should not move from that position. This can be more difficult than it sounds because it's instinctual on defense to immediately press forward. But when the posts set up off of a ruck, it's their responsibility to communicate to the rest of the team when they should be holding (so they're not offsides) and when the ball is out of a ruck. They should continue to stand in this post position to completely ensure it's protected.
The players after the post are in positions called X and Y. So the defensive set up off of a ruck should look like this:

Y--X--POST-RUCK-POST--X--Y

These two positions should also be designated in case shifting needs to occur. X and Y positions ensure that this space will always be covered, however it also makes shifting easier for all the other defenders. Instead of running around to the end of the defensive line to even out spacing and coverage, players can enter right outside the Y position and communicate to their teammates to bump out.

This may sound like a lot to handle in the midst of a chaotic field and while also thinking heavily about tackling the bitch runnin full steam at you, but calm yourself. It will come.

You may look like a shitshow over and over again at practice trying to figure this out, but once you're on the field, it will be crazy how this is all of the sudden second nature to you. It may even take a few games as well...or a few seasons....but just fucking PRACTICE THIS SHIT and eventually you'll be preaching it on the field.
**which is another really important reason why you need to actually GO to practice in the first place. It's basically an even safer space to fuck up in.

Tough love.

Tonight at practice began the official reconstruction after being beat down from a loss. We already brought each other's spirits up through positivity and seeing improvement in our mistakes, but now it's time for business or else we ain't goin' nowhere.

Where would Carol be today without that wake up call?!

Many a time I have discussed how important it is for rugby players to be okay with making mistakes, but with that means you also need to be okay with hearing constructive criticism. Clearly you can't fuck up and then continuously keep telling yourself you did a good job or else you're just going to keep on fucking up! You can be strengths based with yourself but also accept that fact that you need to improve and keep working hard towards change. FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME: no one's perfect.

Going into this week after our last game, my goal in my head was clear: FITNESS.

I'm glad that as a team we did some fitness together, although I'm looking at it through an appreciative lens. I'm extremely lucky that we did fitness at practice, it's always an added bonus.

.........many of you are probably saying this right now:

YEAH I SAID IT. FITNESS AT PRACTICE IS A BLESSING.
Wanna know why?
Because you're lucky that it's a scheduled activity you have to do and are surrounded by your teammates and coaches motivating you.....otherwise, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN.
I think we can all attest to the fact that it is WAY harder to motivate yourself do undertake fitness alone rather than with positive influences around you. And every player should be accountable for their own fitness simply because it is an activity you can do anytime, anywhere. Fitness really is an individualistic activity and it's really no one else's responsibility but YOURS to be physically prepared for rugby.

IT WILL BITE YOU IN THE ASS IF YOU TRY TO AVOID IT.
I've been trying to put in a lot of my own effort into fitness, but at the same time the first game of the year is always tough. No matter how many runs you go on or how many weights you lift, there's really no fully preparing for the first game of the season. The only way to do it is run with a 50lb weight on your back and have someone follow you that's beating you with a stick. Good luck!
But it's also extremely important to recognize that no matter what, YOU WILL BE SORE AND TIRED AND HURTING AFTER YOUR FIRST GAME. Recognize the difference between pain and soreness. Make sure you can tell what is a sharp pain vs. an ache. If you can categorize something as a sharp pain, pull in the reigns and sit out a few plays. If you can categorize something as an ache, PUSH THROUGH IT or the stiffness will only get worse.

Anyways, to start off practice we did a great conditioning drill that involves jogging, sprinting, and burpees for a significant period of time. That's probably as close to the fitness of a rugby game as you'll get. We jogged laps around the field until we heard one whistle blow, which signaled dropping to the ground, getting back up as quick as possible, and continuing jogging or two whistle blows, which signaled a sprint until we heard the one whistle again. Needless to say: it was a BITCH. But when it's a bitch, that's when you know you're improving. No matter what place you're in or how many people seem to be passing you in the laps, everyone is out of breath and working at their own self improvement. There's no one person putting in more effort than the other - it's hard for us all.

We then went back to the building blocks of defense. We started out with some touch scrimmages to get into the groove of matching up and keeping space while defending. In our game on Saturday, we continuously ran into some issues with focusing too much on staying tight off the rucks and then leaving the outside wiiiiiiide open.
This also came with a focus on not having multiple players get sucked into a tackle. CLEARLY if your teammate is struggling to make a tackle/looks like it'll be broken through then by all means help a bitch out and stop standing and watching. But other than that, when attacking teams hit the gaps of course it's tough to keep space and prevent another gap from opening where you should've been standing in the first place.
There was a moment in our scrimmage when a pretty decent switch was made on the attacking team. This caused some confusion on the defensive side because in a switch, multiple attacking players enter one lane and then cross a whole bunch of other lanes (remember the benefits of the 45 degree angle? This is where it comes in handy yet also fucks over the defense). The defensive player matched up with the switcher cannot cover this person anymore or else they would have to run through the ball carrier, tackler, and then across a bunch of other defenders. Makes no sense!

It's extremely important to make the distinction between matching up with a player and with a lane. Yes, call out a person that you are matching up against, but when "pigtails" loops wide or runs a switch, this is where shifting is extremely important. On a switch, then it has to be a quick decision and communication for someone else to pick up that player and have all the other defenders shift to what attacking options are still present. For a loop, the minute you see your person loop around to the end of an attacking line start yelling your ass off for a shift to the left or right.

We also did a lot of tackling practice, and something that I missed from college: we called it THE GAUNTLET! This is one-on-one tackling in a narrow tunnel. Yes it's intimidating and many times even humiliating, but these are definitely some of the hardest tackles to make. If you can master the hardest, then the rest will come. AGAIN, this is a blessing in disguise because with all eyes on you, then you have all the help and support you could possibly want on your side. Your coach and teammates aren't going to be able to watch closely every time you fuck up and miss a tackle, but in the gauntlet you're able to have where you need improvement identified right on the spot.
DON'T RUN AWAY FROM CRITICISM!
....are you catching a trend here? Avoidance is a bitch. Rugby karma is real.
And in the end, we're all pals here. We all want to see each other succeed. Always remember that criticism is coming from a caring, supportive, and positive place. Not everyone is a Communications major (such as, *cough cough* yours truly was) or even a social butterfly...so while it may come out like bitchassness in the end it's just someone trying to help you. Don't ever forget that! Put your ego aside and take some advice from someone else - we can all use input that will help us improve. Of course positive reinforcement is important and helpful, but this "tough love" is what will really make you go anywhere in the end.

Why are there cleats in the back seat?

Soo yesterday my mother gave me quite a grilling over finding cleats in the back seat of our car...and here's why: first off she thought it stank up the entire car (which, when I went into the car, I was actually expecting it to smell bad but it was actually one of my most FAVORITE scents....grass......aka a rugby field), and second because I'M ON PROBATION FROM RUGBY. She put me on probation from rugby because currently we don't have any health insurance.

...well....I'm supposed to be on probation and not playing. If my mother or someone who will snitch to my mother is in your vicinity kindly CLOSE THIS SHIT IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE SHE HAS NO IDEA THAT I'M STILL PLAYING ANYWAYS.

And I get it that clearly tackling people and being pummeled left and right are not exactly activities you should be doing when you don't have health insurance, but running drills? passing? playing touch scrimmages? All of those are about as hazardous as going to the gym, going for a run, walking across the street..........you get it. It's BOGUS.
And telling me I can't play rugby?

Rugby is what gets me through the week, through the day....through ANYTHING. Literally any type of trouble I am faced with, or even any type of accomplishment I have, I can relate it back to rugby. Every time I step onto a rugby field it's just FIREWORKS IN MY LIFE

It makes me sad that I really have to limit and even hide my passion for rugby since I know it will make people in my family angry, annoyed, or bored. Sometimes I honestly feel like when I ramble about rugby with the majority of people in my life (outside of the rugby realm itself, of course) I'm uber excited while I get this blank look in return:

It's literally as if I'm an alien.


Anyways, I'm SO glad that I made the executive choice on my own to continue playing through my insurance drought because (obviously) I haven't gotten injured and we have been doing some GREAT stuff at practice that I am really benefiting from. I hope that I am able to motivate myself to get my ass on here and write a post (as opposed to getting sucked into the black hole of BUZZFEED) every time we have a practice so I can share with everyone else the great drills and things we learn while also making sure I remember all of this important information. The more you retain all this shit, the more it will display itself on the playing field. Rugby is SUCH a book smart sport, so strategic and intelligent in so many ways.

Over the past few weeks, we have been focusing a lot on defense. We have been practicing defense SO much that anything about attack has been put on the back burner (for the time being). I think this philosophy is SO important for a variety of reasons:

• a breakaway and almost any type of scoring can happen in less than a second
• at the same time, any type of turnover can happen in less than a second...you can suddenly find yourself on attack or [more importantly] defense before you even realized what happened
• if you are able to perform defense well as a team, this type of pressure can make the opposition put their tail between their legs and raise the white flag in a heartbeat....this type of insecurity can be lethal
• mistakes on attack happen literally all the time and are much easier to fix than mistakes on defense; chronic defensive mistakes mean that there are some fundamental issues that cause major road blocks for any team of any skill level

I COULD GO ON AND ON.

To start off practice, we played a really fun yet practical game called snakes and mongoose (I'm sure there's a variety of names for this game). It was really simple yet taught a lot of great lessons about playing defense.
Easy rules to follow: Set up cones in a grid/box/rectangle that limits the space of play. The defending team's objective is to eliminate all the opposing players via tagging each player with a rugby ball. However, opposition must be tagged with the ball and a defender is not allowed to move when they have possession of the ball. So, this forces the defense to practice a variety of skills:

1. Spacing - supporting one another and setting up as a team was extremely important in being able to tag anyone. When defenders ran off to try and cover people on their own, it never worked....even if you were matched up perfectly with an opposing player, you would be passed the ball and watch the opposition run by you while you could only stand there frozen (since you wouldn't be able to move). When defenders set themselves up to trap oppositional players and cut off gaps, then the sparks started to fly.
2. Communication - Like every other aspect of rugby, players had to communicate with one another in order to be on the same page. Designating one oppositional player at a time for the defense to focus on tagging was effective. With everyone working towards the same goal, there were many times where it was practically unstoppable. Even telling the other defenders where you are, where the ball is going, etc. are all very important and effective uses of communication. 
3. Proximity - obviously this is similar/practically identical to spacing, but I'm separating this skill by using it to refer to invading someone's hoop (circle of proximity around them) when going in for a tackle. From the rule that you cannot move once you are holding the ball, you're forced to be in extremely close proximity with an offender in order to be able to tag them. Many times we find ourselves tackling via clotheslines (arms out, body away) or tugging at clothing/hair because we have not entered that area of personal space that allows us to be more in control of the tackle.

GET IN THAT HOOP!

We then moved on to some more practicing with tracking. This skill involves an important set of paces that you need to move at:
FAST-SLOW-FAST

FAST: press forward to take away space, not allow the opposition to gain meters, and put pressure on the attack. Meet the opposition at the middle of the space separating you from them. 

SLOW: Once you have quickly made it to the middle and taken away that space, slow up in order to position yourself for a tackle. Although I'm saying "slow up" that's not really what it implies.....it's more as if you're not moving forward but you're keeping your feet active and shuffling in order to be able to change direction at any given moment. When shuffling, you want to line up with the offender so that you are square with their hips (your hips and theirs are literally parallel to each other, so you may not even be necessarily facing straight forward on the field) and you are positioned on their inside shoulder so they cannot quickly step back into open space.
Important mistake I keep making: Due to my defensive basketball shuffling background, I have a terrible tendency to keep my stance wide (it's practically an unconscious movement...I have to constantly tell myself in my head to stay in tighter). But you really want to shuffle with small steps close together because this gives you more availability and freedom to move in any direction. A wide stance forces you to pause for an extra unnecessary second in order to switch movements.

FAST: Once you've entered their hoop and set yourself up for a hit, BOOM! Plow on forward! Cheek(your face)-to-cheek(their buttocks)! It's extremely important to remember to drive so that you are not bulldozered over and so you are more able to make a positive tackle - one that gains meters for the defense and pushes the opposition backwards.

Tracking drills: we set up cones in a grid/box to simulate defending someone who has a touch line (out of bounds) on one side of them. A defender would stand across from an opposing player running with a ball and perform the fast-slow-fast technique before ending with a tag on the runner's hips. This was a pretty small space so the defender was really forced to do this sequence quickly. When defenders were picking up on pressing forward, shuffling, and being aligned on the opposition's inside shoulder, then we progressed to giving runners the option of cutting back/changing direction in order to make sure no defenders cheated/overestimated on defense positioning.
Because as a team we experienced some difficulties here and there with these drills, we did another tracking drill as well to break it down even more. We practiced the fast-slow-fast paces without opposition that just involved running, shuffling, and then quickly picking a direction to move in. It is very important to remember when shuffling to keep your feet/legs in tight so that you are able to change direction and move quicker!

Another defensive drill we did reminded me of something like Mighty Ducks meets foosball. Four different ball carriers lined up behind one another so a line of defense would start out lying on the ground and run up to meet each one in a flat line. Two defensive players started on the ground next to each other and then on the outsides two other defenders started about 5 meters back (and, thus, they look like "flying V" formation from the Mighty Ducks). When the ball carrier in front of them picked up the ball off the ground, all four defenders would fire up off the ground and press towards the ball carrier. A couple of communication skills were practiced through this. First, the two players on the outside had to let the players on the inside know they were in support/coming up to meet them by yelling "I'm here, I'm here!" OR even make it known they weren't with them yet. After the defensive line was all set then it had to be someone's responsibility to call the tackle and burst forward to wrap the ball carrier. In a way, it's like a team version of fast-slow-fast because if the defenders press up together without aligning in a flat line then they turn into THE GAP OUTLET (hah...see what I did there?). After this was completed, the defenders would get back on the ground in the same formation and repeat the same drill with the next ball carrier in line. 

FUN FO' DAYZ.

I could go on and on, which I plan to do very very soon since there's great drills galore we've done so far, but I know this post is already about as long as the Torah so I'm cutting myself off here....
...and am probably just going to start another post very soon after this.