Most especially at the youth level,

I am of the opinion, that while coaches have a responsibility towards their athletes that ensures a safe and enjoyable sporting experience, a vital part of the pedagogy principle is to impart something of value for them. Something they will remember that passes the test of time.

And so while using sport as a metaphor for living life, being humble in victory and gracious in defeat, keeping up your grades, being respectful of your peers, teachers, officials and team mates. Learning about patience, tolerance, discipline, responsibility, etc, coaches not only have to know a certain level of X's and O's for their chosen sport, but at a minimum they should also know how to develop a physically fit body that compliments a rapidly developing and emotionally young mind.

In my career as a both a sport coach and personal trainer I see the link between physical and mental fitness everyday. In every interaction. I have literal conversations with almost all I interact with about how being physically fit helps with creativity and production. How sustainably stable and alert you can be when you have the endurance to go the distance in a high performance environment. Be that at work, at home, and or in sport.

For the general population I have a suite of exercises that I have come to package as the greatest hits for baseline health and wellness. They are included here.

However, for this particular presentation I advocate for fitness (conditioning) and skill development in the specific sport of rugby. 

Rugby is a combat sport.

At the youth level coaching needs to focus on obviously, (as stated), the enjoyment factor, but vitally, at an execution level, safe execution of all technical aspects MUST be the priority. 

At the youth level a games based approach to training has proven successful. The skill, fitness and strength spectrum is long at this level and it's vital for a Coach to quickly identify at which point along this spectrum each individual athlete lies within each specific entity.

For example, a big strong athlete may not yet have developed a high skill level. Likewise someone with a high technical understanding of certain aspects for the game may need to concentrate on getting stronger so as to mitigate potential injury when executing those techniques. Every athlete is different and so the Coach needs to develop communication, relational and relatability skills for each athlete, equally as well as designing specific strength and conditioning programs for each athlete. 

Not only that but this needs to be a strong ethic across the coaching staff and team leadership group too so that everyone is on the same page and working hard on what the agreed upon terms are for this groups chosen cultural identity. The written goals, standards and expectations that the whole group has designed and bought into. 

For youth, if success can be measured against this doctrine then it will be a winning season.

Therefore for the sport of rugby I advocate for, at a minimum, being able to safely and accurately perform the general population conditioning workout as demonstrated in the link above and then for the coaches to (in terms of progression) be able to lead the players through the set of rugby specific skills and conditioning exercises as outlined in this video.