If you are anything like me, "vacation" doesn't mean what it does to non-rugby people. More often than not, "vacation" = using your precious time off to fly somewhere for rugby, never actually see the place you are flying to, work your ass off playing/coaching/reffing/administering, and return home more in need of a real vacation than you were when you left.
Take a vacation. A real one. It will make you feel better :)
I just got back from MY ridiculously fabulous vacation in Honduras - about 1/2 mile east of Sambo Creek, which is about 15km east of La Ceiba, to be exact.
We flew into San Pedro Sula, via Atlantic City/Ft Lauderdale, after frolicking just a bit in the overprices Atlantic City Casinos. Some bummers about AC: you cant' find a craps table for less than 10 bucks, you can't drop coins into slot machines anymore, and a cheese steak costs 10 bucks.
By the time we arrived in Honduras, we seriously needed a break. We stayed at this little B&B called "the Diving Pelican", which was right on the beach. Unfortunately there's some security issues at night, so almost all the beach hotels are gated. No matter - it was still amazing.
The place was run by a couple from Texas who bought their tickets the day after Bush won the election. There is room for only 6 guests - so it was really just like staying at someone's house. The place included a "Champa" which is essentially like an outdoor bar/recroom with beer, juice, wine, and rum rum rum. It was pay as you go and dirt cheap. Seriously, in the states, our bar tab for two people for a week at the beach would have been at least 500 bucks. Instead it was about 40. Here's the Champa (right outside the gate is the ocean) ... 
The first day was basically beach, beach beach. Duh! This is Playa Helen - the boats are used by the local Garafina people, who do largely subsistence fishing. 
On Day 2, we took off to the jungle canopy for a zip-line tour. We were picked up by a kid who couldn't have been more than 15, on horseback, with horses for us. Now, we Americans LOVE our animals, and it was a little tough seeing the conditions down there. I had to keep reminding myself - pets really are a luxury. The horses that picked us up were clearly working ... they were quite a bit scrawnier than what we're used to, and you could really feel them sweating in the heat.
We got kitted up with our harnesses (just a climbing harness with a wheel thingee-that fits on a cable) and rode on horseback up a trail into Pico Bonito National Park. 
The "Canopy Tour" involved traversing the jungle canopy via a network of cables. 
There were 21 cables total - the longest one was over a kilometer! I would have liked to take a little more time and really learn about the local flora and fauna, but it was still pretty awesome, flying through the jungle, hundreds of feet above the ground. Though the whole experience would NEVER pass any sort of OSHA safety inspection, I never felt unsafe, even for a second.
Once we finished the zip line tour, we went back into the edge of the jungle, where there was a natural hot-spring to soak in. AMAZING! 
On Day 3 we decided to go into town. La Ceiba is the third largest city in Honduras. It very much has the feel of many poorer southwestern towns in the US, with a constant wave of people buying and selling fruits, grains, clothing, and WWF t-shirts. We bought a bunch of souvenirs, some rum for the champa, and had a FANTASTIC dinner.
Day 4 ... SNORKELING! A young couple staying at the inn told us that the guys who run the snorkeling tour would also just drop us off at an caye (island) and leave us for the day, so thats what we did. It was breathtaking. I've been snorkeling before, but never in anywhere that was so completely saturated with life. Alas, no waterproof camera = no underwater photos, but they are seared in my brain. I don't do the diving thing, in this particular area it wouldn't have mattered so much - the water wasnt more than a few feet deep for what seemed like forever. Literally, there wasn't a place you could look that wasn't teeming with life. At first the barracudas creeped me out a little bit, but after a few moments it was clear that they intended no harm and we just enjoyed staring at each other a bit.
Now I'm by no means a tree-hugger-environmentalist type, but in this day and age I hope we are all getting a bit more sensitive about the world we live in. I couldn't help but wonder, if everyone got a chance to see how peaceful, beautiful, and full of life these pristine pockets of earth are, that we would perhaps take just a little bit better care of the planet. Of course I'm currently working for a client in a 28 story office building, in center city Philadelphia, that gives out free canned soda (we go through at least 4 cases a day on my floor alone), and doesn't recycle. Hmm.
anyway...
We spent our last day at the Diving Pelican, laying around in hammocks, reading, drinking rum, swimming in the ocean, the strolled into Sambo Creek for a massive "meat platter" with beans & rice, plantains, salad, and of course beer, that cost about 10 bucks for both of us. The sunset was glorious, and then it was time to return to the states. No sooner did we get to Atlantic City, then we were ripped off by a cab driver. That's right, the bill was 23 bucks, I handed him 40, he said "let me get you change", and them promptly drove away. So much for so-called civilization.
Side note: We flew on Spirit Airlines, a discount carrier that specializes in the Carribean and Central America. I was a little worried that our plane would be held together with duct tape and rubber bands, but it was actually brand new, with roomy leather seats, and no BS. Plane fare to San Pedro Sula from Atlantic city was about $300 per person, and we left and arrived on time. I highly recommend flying with them, just go into it knowing that checked bags, even one, cost money, and even soda's cost money on board. If you put that aside, the plane, service, and flight were better than any I've recently had from any of the big name domestic carriers. I just wish they flew out of Philly. Oh well.
The jump back into rugby happened very quickly, as the day after we got home was Philly Women's annual free collegiate clinic. More on that later, for now I'll leave you with this final image....
Monday, February 25, 2008
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A vacation without rugby? |
Friday, February 15, 2008
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Non-rugby political rant |
I've been absolutely OBSESSIVE about this years presidential election. I must have 20 tickers in my blog folder - CNN, MSNBC, Fox, Savage Politics, Politico, Media Matters, Real Clear Politics, Radical Left, Slate, Salon.
I can't get enough. It's not so much the candidates or the articles themselves that facinate me - it's the comments. Talk about mud-slinging! These people are RUTHLESS. If I were to look at the negative comments only and if I actually believed them then:
Hillary Clinton is the Devil in a pantsuit
Barack Obama is either the second coming of JC (OR the anti-Christ)
John McCain is Ghengis Khan, Alexander, and Hannibal all rolled up into one.
Then there is the behavior of the so called "surrogates" - and there are close, trusted surrogates (mostly family members and close advisors) as well as far distant surrogates. Basically, these are people who say the things the candidates can't get away with saying without being slammed for "going negative". Often candidates are accused of having "positioned" a surrogate to say something, when the reality is that said surrogate probably just spoke their mind. It's like a giant Junior High game of he said/she said.
And it's out of control.
If you click through PAST the news articles and blog posts, to the links that the commenter's have put in the post, it gets even crazier. For example, there is a theory out there that the Republicans are SAYING that Barack Obama will be harder to beat then Hillary Clinton, in order to stimulate Dems to vote for him. The logic here is that republican insiders actually think he'll be easier to beat, so are trying to influence the nominating process.
There is the theory that Karl Rove is pushing independents and non-registered republicans to go out and vote in the democratic primary in order to ensure that the Republicans can run against the Democrat of their (republicans) choice.
There are as many conspiracy theories out there on the flip side too. It's almost impossible to ignore the spin... I can't even count the times that a headline has got my attention, and when I read the article, I learn that the headline was a load of misleading crap.
Where am I going with this? I've been reading some disturbing stuff in a lot of these comments, some real elitist BS. Basically the so-called reality is that, "educated people & people with high income" are voting for one candidate, and "working class people & people with low income" are voting for another. The conclusion that is being drawn in the media and amongst the commenter's is that "you must be stupid to vote for .... ".
Seriously? Isn't it the JOB of the most powerful person in the nation to help people who need it the most? Is it a bad thing for poor people and less educated people to pick you? I mean, maybe it sounds sort of communist, but shouldn't our leader be a champion for those that have less and need more? Really, in a country like ours, founded by immigrants who were craving for religious freedom, populated by people who were once slaves, by native American's who were driven from their homes, by political and economic refugees, where theoretically everyone is equal, haven't we learned anything?
All I know is I'm incredibly disappointed by our media making headlines out of non-events, creating conflict when there isn't any, and telling us who to choose.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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WNT Team Announced for Hong Kong 7s |
Just in from Jules,
Hong Kong Player Sponsorship Opportunities:
You can sponsor the USA Women's 7s Team! Simply choose which player (above) you would like to hear from while in Hong Kong (via email) that describes her personal experiences playing International Rugby at the Hong Kong 7s!
Red Level: $250-$499
Monday, February 11, 2008
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Yesterday's Scrum Clinic |
So yesterday we had the last in a series of 3 scrummaging clinics for the U23 women here in Marfu. Previous clinics were held in EPRU and PRU, yesterday we traveled to James Madison University in VRU.
What a terrific day! First of, Harrisonburg is beautiful, and our hosts JMU and VRU were terrific. Thanks so much to Roshna (who in addition to coaching JMU, has been on the MARFU U23 staff for several years and works with the VRU U23s as well). There was a tremendous amount of wind, but it turned out not to be nearly as cold as it could have been.
The best part - despite the cold weather and the earliness of the season, nearly 50 players showed up. We've hovered around 40 the previous clinics, but in both EPRU and PRU, we opened it up to men's college programs to increase numbers. No need for that this time - with players from JMU, Virginia Tech, UVA, University of Maryland, and the Stingers among other teams, we had plenty of participation. Every single player had a great attitude and was eager to learn.
My esteemed asst coaches Kristin Aliberto and Stacy Baker, both currently with the Philadelphia Women's Rugby Club, MARFU senior side players, and WNT pool players, did as always a tremendous- job. We were able to keep all the players engaged, get everyone lots of repetition, and trickle down some of the current scrummaging practices.
We've managed to hone the format for these clinics, and since this is after all a blog about coaching, I thought it worthwhile to share the format for the masses, in case there's something that y'all in the blogosphere can add to or take from it.
Warmup & orientation: about 15 minutes
Introducing the repetitive execution of the individual set-up profile: about 15 minutes.
We then sliced up the players into 4 groups, as much as possible keeping them in their team units, and worked through a 3 station circuit:
station 1: core agility. If you've seen the stuff that Bill LeClerc's been doing, you're familiar with this. Various types of planks, "angry cat", and everyone's favorite, the 2 person-fireman-around-the-back-scoochie thing. Usually Angie is available for the 2 person-fireman-around-the-back-scoochie thing, but alas she couldn't make it this time. Apparently there was some sort of gummy-clearance sale at the Gummy and Sugar Warehouse.
station 2: solo work on the predator, focusing on a) picture perfect body position b) sustained pressure c) quickness across the tunnel
station 3: harness work, progressing from solo to groups of 4. I'll post an image or two later about this - basically it's a fantastic tool for teaching players EXACTLY how to apply pressure, how to use the ground as their source of power, how to transfer from the ground through their legs and core to their shoulders to create forward drive. It's hard work, but its fantastic work. This station has a 30 minute duration to the other two's 15.
So, the station work takes about an hour and at the end there's little doubt in anyones mind about how to generate power, what body position is the most effective, and what areas the individual players need to improve in.
After this, we went to one-on-one engagements, focusing on transferring the great body position learned earlier to a competitive situation. We work from the ground up, and focus on using the knees as a spring, to transfer your opponent's kinetic energy into your potential energy, and how to channel all your power into "go forward", rather than "go up or down".
Once all the coaches had time to work with the individual pairs, we introduced some binding concepts, previews what we would cover after the break, had some Q&A, and broke for lunch.
Well, not everyone. We spent about 20 minutes with the hookers and 8s, having them work together on releasing the "brake", timing the strike with extra pressure from the 8, and letting the 8 work on their body position and timing out of the gate for pick attacks. At the same time, we worked with the flankers - showing them how to take the power of the scrum and use it to improve their speed and explosiveness off the scrum. Ie, it is possible to watch the ball, think about what comes after the scrum, AND actually drive.
Once the whole group returned, the real fun started.
With each of the 4 groups, we worked on speed of engagement, and movement as a unit. Too often, the players in the scrum wind up "chasing" the front row into the engagment, creating an accordian-type effect. We used something we've been calling "scrummaging sprint starts" to teach players how to apply and maintain pressure from the back to the front, how to use their binds to preserve as much individual power as possible, how to react to pressure from behind, and how to explode, like a sprinter, across the tunnel. We start this process in groups of 3 (2 + 1, position irrelevant), and build to groups of 8. This is when everything starts coming together, and the players go through the setup sequence the learns as individuals, only now as a group. This takes about 20-30 minutes, and once the full 8 person start looks good, we start doing reps on the predator.
At this point - we're working in full packs. We like to take a few reps on the predator, do some starts, and challenge another pack. We continue like this, tweaking, getting faster, and challenging, for the remainder of the day. As the groups get better and better, we can advance. One of my favorite exercises is to the have the groups work as "cooperative competitors" to move up, back, left, and right. This sort of movement is only possible when the players focus on solid body position, balance, core tension, and collective movement ... EIGHT AS ONE. We did this for about 45 more minutes, until we sensed the players were reaching the saturation point. At about 2:15, we wrapped up for the day. It was a hugely fulfilling day - most college players seldome get to spend even 30 minutes working on their own individual scrummaging skills, let alone 4 hours.
So t was a really good rugby day, and I'm starting to get pumped about the spring club season and the U23 Territorial season.
Thanks again to Roshna and the JMU hosts, but especially to Kristin and Stacy, who have really grown into terrific young coaches. Thanks guys!
Monday, February 04, 2008
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Survey Results: Practice Participation |
So, some 50ish people have responded to my "what do you do" survey, and the results are certainly interesting. I'm not quite willing to tackle some of the more sensitive subjects right yet, so today we'll focus on "active participation in practice", since 33 of 53 respondents replied that yes, they actively participate in practice.
To be clear, what I'm referring to is the practice of lacing up your boots and jumping into a drill or game. This does not include giving formal demonstrations - which is another topic all together. What I'm talking about is actually participating, physically. Breathing hard, getting dirty.
Clearly, for the player-coach, pretty much everything is a gray area, and the player coach has a responsibility as a PLAYER to maintain his or her skills. So they HAVE TO PRACTICE. The rest of us don't, but some of us choose to.
My personal opinion? No matter how much you believe that "seeing you in action" will help your players, IT WON'T. I've heard all sorts of comments....
- "sometimes my team is just lazy, if I get in there and set the pace, then they'll have to keep up with me at practice".
- "the players tend to take it easy on each other, so if I get out there and play defense, I will challenge them".
- "the players will respect me more if I show them that I'm willing to do the same things I'm asking them to do"
- "sometimes there aren't enough bodies at practice, so they need me to participate"
- "I'm a big guy and I coach a women's team. I like to have them tackle me at practice - if they can get me down, they can tackle anyone.
- the best way for me to figure out what's going wrong with a scrum is to just jump in there. If I feel it, I can fix it.
1. If you go out there and "set the example" by increasing the pace or intensity of the practice activity, then you are in fact preventing the team from finding their own drive. Leadership seldom emerges when it is not needed. If you, as a coach, provide the "on field leadership" at practice, come game day the players who are formal or informal leaders will be unprepared. They will lead by assignment, rather than through experience. Yes, some people are natural leaders - but even they need to practice their craft and find their own style. Make them wait until game day, and you set them up for failure.
2. If you are playing, YOU AREN'T WATCHING!!! And if you ARE watching, you are only seeing what you are in position to see. We've got to be able to move about and look at both details and game flow - you just can't do that if you're catching your own breath or admiring your own work.
3. SAFETY!!!! REFER TO #2 above...
4. Maybe you're not as good as you think you are? The big risk of "watch me while I show you" is that you may in fact SUCK at whatever skill you are demonstrating. Who's coaching you?
5. You are taking valuable repetitions away from the players, and missing valuable opportunities to give feedback to players.
6. To those of you who like to "jump into the scrum" to see what's going on - how will your players learn those problem solving skills?
I'm sure some of you disagree ... bring it on!
