Saracens

02 Oct 2009 - 12:00

"As a coach you never stop learning.” This was never more evident than in the visit of two of Saracens’ Community Coaches to The British School of Brussels and Brussels Barbarians RFC on the weekend of 18th September. A small English Community in Brussels has established a thriving rugby culture which, through the Saracens Club Partnership Programme, managed to establish a coach education weekend. Accommodation, sponsored by Le Meridien Hotel was top notch, but paled in comparison with the superb welcome received by the club and school. 39 coaches from various levels were present over the weekend, and everyone involved greeted the Saracens Coaches with a smile and a good few questions!

Our intrepid adventurers went with clear plans of the messages they wanted to deliver to the eager coaches that had gathered for the weekend of coach development, working through some classroom based discussion on skill acquisition and learning styles, before putting it into practice on the pitches outside. With the age of the coaches ranging from 16-60 the practical session could have been a challenge, however all through themselves into it with youthful vigour. The Saracens coaches were able to pass on a number of games and exercises, but also learnt some new ideas themselves.

Over the course of the weekend 3 games were played and viewed, demonstrating the high quality of Belgian rugby and giving the chance for some video analysis as well. In all an extremely useful weekend was had by all, Stuart Dowsett BBRFC President commented, “Our thanks to you for coming over for the weekend - we'd be pleased to see you again. I have only had positive feedback.”