Coaches get up to speed

GETTING THE GOOD OIL: Small Blacks workshop participants gather in Tolaga Bay. They are, back (from left): Amy Kururangi, Becs Trafford, Leo Edginton, Richard Tuhaka, Allies Whakataka, player development manager Kahu Tamatea, Tip Nukunuku and Tuari Kaitai. Front: coach and referee development manager Miah Nikora, Maurice Kururangi, Peter Crawford and Andrew Trafford. Picture by Darryl Crawford

They are some of the most influential people in rugby.

And in Tolaga Bay on Saturday, 10 Uawa Sports Club coaches of Small-Blacks-age players (six to 13) kicked off their season exactly as they had to.

New Zealand Rugby requires coaches at that level to attend a Small Blacks workshop annually. With Uawa's junior teams taking part in Poverty Bay competitions, Poverty Bay staff ran the course at Uawa Domain.

That Uawa had such a good turn-out — including five new coaches — impressed Poverty Bay community rugby manager Ray Noble.

“Uawa are a progressive club,” he said.

“Their willingness to learn new things, to develop, was inspiring and their having 10 coaches highlights how small communities band together for the benefit of their kids.”

Noble, coach and referee development manager Miah Nikora and player development manager Kahu Tamatea delivered the programme.

“We learned from them as well, in terms of the sideline behaviour strategies participants came up with, which were thought-provoking; they were definitely ideas we can promote throughout junior rugby,” Noble said.

The feedback from Saturday's session was constructive and struck a chord with experienced coaches. Peter Crawford and Tip Nukunuku coached Uawa to back-to-back club titles in 2018 and 2019 and now take the u11s.

“It was awesome — the Poverty Bay staff knew their trade and did a wonderful job,” said Crawford of the hour-and-a-half session.

Former Ngati Porou East Coast hooker and manager Richard Tuhaka, who takes the u10s, regarded as vitally important the dialogue about the tackle area and head placement to avoid concussion.

Peter Crawford said, “We only get to go to one of these clinics in a year.

“Now it's up to us as a club to implement what was covered, what we were exposed to.”

Poverty Bay staff will run three more Small Blacks sessions this season — tonight at Patutahi Domain, at the Gisborne Oval next Wednesday and on July 15 at Rugby Park. All three are to start at 6pm.