Part 1 - Atlantic Youth Cup tournament in Nottingham, England
Peter Walters Sportcoach spends a month coaching in Europe. First stop is Nottingham, England for the Atlantic Youth Cup where teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Belgium, USA, South Africa take part in Under 15Mixed, Under 18 Mixed and Under 20 Boys and 20 Girls. I am working with Touch France, support coaching with Julien Brebion and the French Under 18 Girls team and Arnaud Rayer and the French Under 15 Mixed team. I fast track my learning of the french language especially the specific touch words such as left, right, go forward, get back. change, lets go and thanks ref ! My time is spent giving technical and tactical advice, supporting and improving individuals on their skill sets, game sense and analysis on opponents strengths and weaknesses. Also input and sharing into the holistic aspect of coaching. I get to catchup with a number of coaches and players at the tournament and commentate some matches. The French teams perform well at the tournament and I am impressed with the coaching of Julien and Arnaud who get their teams peaking nicely for finals. The U18Girls losing to England 7 - 0 the day before finals then meeting them again in the Final and going down in a tight 3 on 3 dropoff. Arnaud’s U15Mixed timing their run also showing good composure and confidence to come from behind to win 9 - 7 and take Gold in the final against England. All French teams performed well and medalled with the other 3 French teams attaining Bronze medals.
Part 2 - Coaching in Stockholm, Sweden
I catch a train to Liverpool that night and fly out of Lyon airport the next morning to Stockholm in Sweden for 4 days. I stay with Hamish and Ron just out of Stockholm in an apartment 150m from the training venue where I will be facilitating coaching sessions over the next 3 days from 3.00pm to 8.00pm. We have a range of people turn out from regular Sweden rep touch players to newbies to rugby players both male and female. The majority of the Swedish team heading to European Champs in 3 weeks attend the sessions and we cover most aspects of the game from subbing transition through to Attack and defence systems, to pods and positions and roles. We train then go out for dinner after training then some more sharing back at the apartment or other venues. During the day we sightsee and relax. One day we go see the famous Swedish ship - the Vasa. A 17th century warship that sunk on its maiden voyage in 1628. It was salvaged from Stockholm harbour in 1961 and is now displayed in the Vasa museum. Awesome story.
Part 3 - three day camp in Grenoble, France
I catch a flight to Lyon, France for a 3 day camp with the French senior mixed team which is my main assignment on this trip. A productive weekend where we get to know and learn all about each other and our families, some in attendance. We eat, laugh and share. We work through and finalise our systems, positions and roles. Our drop-off team of 8 is sorted and we get some live gametime to practice. Valuable weekend camp.
Part 4 - Coaching in London, England
Another flight Lyon to Heathrow for 4 days in England. Hit the ground running with a lite bbq meal at my host Renee’s house in Oxford with some players and coaches Q & A then off to a 2 hour evening session at Oxford touch with 50 participants in attendance. Next morning I catch a train to London, on my way to catchup with a couple coaches for lunch and I see a girl touch training so I go over, introduce myself and end up running her thru some drills training and chatting for 40 minutes thanks Naomi ! Catchup lunch with coaches then head off to a coaching session with London Vipers touch club in the evening. Staying with coach James in Putney. Next day have a run with London Vipers mens team at the Wandsworth module then run through some stuff with Galaxy London players then off to the pub for a catchup, drinks and a meal.
Part 5 - Coaching in Clermont Ferrand, France
Next day flight out of London heathrow to Lyon, France then a 4 hour bus trip to Clermont Ferrand. Staying 3 days with host and team manager Jean Louis. He takes me on a history tour around the town. Love hearing the stories that tell of the history over hundreds of years and the architecture of the buildings….and JL is a great cook I am eating heaps and not training much ! The next 2 days I facilitate a FIT coach course with 11 coaches from France and Italy. Some good knowledge amongst the participants. We utilise the French senior mixed team to demonstrate some of the team concepts like subbing transition, line attack and defensive policies in the different field zones. We assess the coaches on day two and they present some parts of the course skill aspects. I reinjure my calf muscle in a skill demonstration….I think my body is not familiar with the lack of training activity over the last 3 weeks…plus the extra intake of food on top of the no training ! That night we head off to Vichy and settle into our accommodation.
Part 6 - Pre tournament build-up in Clermont Ferrand, France
The next day Monday our senior mixed team train. That evening we have our jersey presentation. Lots of emotions as we watch video footage of family and friends who have been part of the journey as well. Tuesday morning I have organised a game against the Netherlands open mixed team with 3 referees and a drop-off at the end of each half. It is just what we need to assess where we are at and the mood in our camp is good after the hit out. Some petanque and a swim follows. Our players are insanely good at petanque and my NZ ranking counts for nothing. In the afternoon the March pass takes place where all the teams are in attendance, a sea of colours, languages and hype, everyone is excited.
Part 7 - The Grand Finale: European Touch Championships in Vichy, France
Wednesday….Day 1 the tournament commences. We play Scotland first up. There has been a lot of talk of the other teams in our grade and who we may be facing. We had done as much recon on our opponents as possible. We start well with a low error rate and winning the territory fight, we go on to win 12 - 7. Next game up we have Deutschland (Germany). They are a very good team with a strong kiwi influence, we know them well and what to expect. A huge physical battle ugly at times and we win the match 10 - 9. Lots of learnings to take forward and we must improve. Ice baths, stretch session, recovery massages and injury treatments with Dinner and team video analysis session to end the night and sleep.
Thursday Day 2 we play Wales. We are looking to cut down on basic ruck errors, better cohesion within our pods and quicker lift speed with our point defenders. We win the game 11 - 3. Last game for the day is Italy a powerful team with great speed. We dominate the game going on to win 13 - 4. Time with family, TV interviews, catching up with people, Ice baths, recovery massages, injury management, stretching, Dinner and team video analysis session to end the night and sleep….sound familiar
Friday Day 3 we have secured a top two placing equal and undefeated with England so go straight to semifinals tomorrow meaning only one game today our round robin game v England current European champs and hot favourites. For many of our players it will be their first time facing England and we talk of how they will need to quickly get familiar with the speed and intensity. The game is exactly that intense and fast. We play well and are able to match England in most areas however our line defence is a concern. We have implemented new systems in our defensive structures and it takes time and repetition to get competent at them. We draw the game 8 -8. We head away from the fields to get lunch then back to Motel to recover, have some pod meetings and some 1 on 1’s. Some of the team we go back to the grounds to watch the quarterfinal Germany v Wales. A comfortable win for Germany who we will face in the semifinal tomorrow. Same processes again the sleep for an early start.
Saturday FINALS Day 4 we play Germany in the semifinal and are confident in our gains and improvement over the course of the tournament. We finish the match 8 - 3 winners and onto the grand final v England, comfortable winners over Scotland in their semifinal. We recover, we eat and rest then prepare for the Final. All our warmups have a fair amount of content specific to onfield plays and policies. Repetitive movements, our shape, our positioning pre and post touch and our reaction speed and timing. We dont start well letting in tries with late disjointed reactions on defence. Must get our pre touch from strike defenders better and defend as a unit especially on the openside. Halftime we are down 8 - 3 and England have their tails up. Both teams scoring mostly of Quickie platform but England attacking well with support attackers aligned well. Our defence is clunky and we go on to lose the match 12 - 6. We are dissappointed and know it wasn’t our best performance however we have won the Silver medal and should be proud of our efforts overall.
We congratulate England, have a debrief and watch all the finals supporting the other 5 French teams that have made Finals. Prizegiving then Function that night and we have breakfast Sunday the next morning and say our goodbyes as we head off.
It has been a wonderful experience - meeting new people, sharing time together, learning a new language and how people live and deal with life. The talks, the laughs, the fun, the new memories. Thanks to Julien, Chris, Arnaud, Manu and the whole team including management. je t’aime equipe jusqu’a ce que nous nous revoyions
