Getting rugby ready
If you’re a newbie to the sport, welcome! You’ve got a lot to do to armour yourself for your first game. Getting rugby ready means preparing the body and mind for the many demands of playing rugby.
To help you get started, we’ve categorised being rugby ready into a 5 categories. If you work on each category, you’ll become a well round player and get the most out our wonderful game.
FEEPO’s CORE 5:
Social
Starting a new sport is daunting. It’s very common that when stepping into a new environment people become anxious. Don’t take this for granted and plan ahead. Prepare yourself now by getting introducing yourself on the Whats-app group chat, ask the coaches how training will go, voice your concerns, and try meet up with a few players before training if you can.
Psychological
There’s a few intimidating elements in playing rugby that are sometimes overlooked if you’ve been playing a long time. One big one is introduction to contact. Who’s scared about making their first tackle? Answer: many of us! Players and coaches have it in their power to build confidence by introducing players to contact progressively. There are a few boxes to tick between now and your first bone on bone tackle and to prep your psyche make sure you tick them all.
Technical and Tactical
Game play readiness is an area where coaches play their shining role. As a newbie to the game, you have a lot to learn about the strategies and techniques involved in playing rugby.
Our advice is that you start nailing the basics; simple passing drills, lines of running, basic tackle technique practice etc.
Learn as much as you can by watching rugby. It sounds simple, but develop a knowledge of the game and watching a variety of different teams because there’s many strategies out there. Perhaps write down some key analysis points: what is the style of play this team is playing with? Where are they being successful? What things are holding them back? You could even start a group chat within your peer group and get a discussion going around game plans.
Physical
If you’re new to rugby, it’s likely that you’re new to Strength and Conditioning (S&C). S&C underpins the athletic development of players and helps mitigate injury risk.
When starting out, building your general strength and fitness base up is really important. In essence, you’re looking to gain overall adaptations in your body’s condition.
Read more about what S&C is here
Where to begin…
FEEPO’s 4 Pillars of Performance, built on a solid foundation:
Physical preparation for rugby can be categorised into the following adaptations:
Within each of these pillars lies sub-categories for training based on performance goals. To get you Rugby Ready, our focuses right now are to improve:
Don’t be that person who rocks up to training unprepared and unfit. The key with any successful training programme is to prepare an action plan. Planning will not only make the whole experience more enjoyable for you (because rugby is tough and you need to be fit) but it will help prevent injuries and selection set-backs.
Ready to get rugby ready? Check out out beginner’s strength and conditioning programme and start your S&C journey now.