Everyone has to feel valued
Adult rugby can mean you have a blend of experiences and ages in a squad. Amanda Jones explains how she ensures everyone feels valued and why it's important.
I’m currently Head Coach of North Walsham Senior Women's team, Chair of Eastern Counties Youth Representative Rugby. I’m also part of the WRU Accelerate programme, which was developed for female coaches to become performance level rugby coaches.
I was also part of the first pilot Every Rose England rugby programme, which aims to support female coaches looking to advance towards level 3 and become advanced level coaches.
In 2025 I will be supporting the coaching for the Finland Men's rugby team and hopefully other programmes.
I started my sporting career as a Welsh national middle distance runner. I joined the Army and was a physical training instructor for 9 years.
I started playing rugby at the age of 32 years old and quickly learned the benefits of this exciting sport. I progressed to County-level playing. My personal highlight was playing at Twickenham and being part of the winning team at the Gill Burns County Championships Div 2.
A typical training session is an hour-long session with over 30 senior women of various experience playing abilities. It involves high intensity game play with breakout skill zones.
I make sure these sessions encompass leadership opportunities, key decision making learning and individual IDP points, which is alot to fit into the one session.
Coaching a group with different experiences and ages
I always plan to create an environment where all players are valued and thus create a sense of belonging for all.
This can be created through individual session targets, feedback and high communication and also the support from assistant coaches.
Unfortunately, from the previous experience I have had as a player, I have seen many players leave the game a season or two earlier than necessary.
This is due to them feeling undervalued and priorities of coaching teams focusing on the younger aged players involved in the team.
This has been quite a sad situation to witness and believe lots of missed opportunities for the years of experience to be passed on wasted.
If you’re a coach that volunteers to lead and manage a team, you are committing hours to not only develop players but retain players within this fantastic game for longer.
It’s important to not let anything affect players staying within the game for as long as possible.
Managing a team of different ages and experiences can be very difficult task to manage for coaching staff but all players should be valued.
Everyone should be included, from the younger and more energetic players to the experienced potentially older players who bring years of experience that can passed on.
Here are a few methods that coaches can use to create feelings of value and bonds of friendship:
Create player mentors to help bridge this gap and keep players within the game for longer.
Try and include regular conversations with individuals and micro goals in training.
Use team building activities that also bridge the gap between generations.
If you’re unable to sign up for regular paid subscription, you can still buy me a coffee.