Strengths Skill/technique Tackling In rugby when you do not have the ball you have to defend. To do this you stop the opposition

GCSE Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

Strengths

Skill/technique

Tackling

In rugby when you do not have the ball you have to defend. To do this you stop the opposition by tackling the person with the ball. Tackling is a very important skill in rugby whatever position you are playing and it is one of my strengths. Not only is it the skill of tackling that I am good at but the decision to choose the type of tackle. There are many forms of tackling and they are needed in different circumstances. For example when you are tackling someone who is only meters away from the try line you want to smother tackle him. This means that you are covering up his arms and the ball meaning that if he did get over the try line you are likely to prevent him from scoring as your hands will be around or underneath the ball. Smothering a player can also be useful as it can prevent the player offloading the ball when being tackled.

Playing flanker it means that I have to cover a lot of ground when playing a mach and it is my job to try and turn over and win the ball. This is one of the reasons why I believe that I am a good tackler. Once I have tackled someone I get back on to my feat and try and win the ball (jackling).

Tackling can be very dangerous and it is very important that you follow a correct technical model e.g. having your head on the correct side.

I no that tackling is one of my strengths as I do not miss many tackles and my fellow teammates have told me that I am a good tackler.

Passing

In rugby you have to be able to pass the ball at a fairly high level especially if you play scrum half witch I sometimes do. You have to be able to pass the ball with your left and right hand if you want to be a good successful scrum half. The reason for the high level of skill in this position is because you have to pass the ball from a ruck or a maul to your outside half, frequently through out a mach. I believe that I have a fairly high level of passing skill as my fellow players and my coach have told me so. I also no that I am a successful passer from the outcome as I do not have a high rate of passes missing the intended player.

I try and make time to practise my passing from both left and right hand; I do this by passing back and forth with a friend changing the position of the ball i.e. if its on the floor or moving ect.

George Gregan is one of the best passes of the game and playing scrum half it is a vital part of his game.

Physical fitness

Power

Muscular power is the ability to contract the muscles with speed and force in one explosive act. Muscular power, or explosive strength, is the combination of strength and ...

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I try and make time to practise my passing from both left and right hand; I do this by passing back and forth with a friend changing the position of the ball i.e. if its on the floor or moving ect.

George Gregan is one of the best passes of the game and playing scrum half it is a vital part of his game.

Physical fitness

Power

Muscular power is the ability to contract the muscles with speed and force in one explosive act. Muscular power, or explosive strength, is the combination of strength and speed of movement. The energy for our muscular power comes from the anaerobic system.

I need to have good muscular power for many reasons in rugby and in my position. Firstly if I ever get lifted in the line out I need good power in my legs to give me extra spring meaning I can get higher and win the ball. Power in my legs also means that I can pump harder when I am running with the ball trying to break tackles or even pushing in the scrums or mauls. Having good power in my upper body also helps when I am handing someone off.

You can measure your muscular power by doing two simple tests: the standing board test and the standing vertical jump. My results for both of these tests are which shows that I have a high level of power. The reason for me having a high level of power is because I do a fair amount of power training. These activities contain weight training at 60-80% of my max doing repetitions at speed, plyometrics and other forms such as bounding and box jumping.

Stamina (aerobic fitness)

Stamina is the ability to work for relatively long periods of time without becoming tired. Stamina is also known as aerobic capacity or cardio-respiratory endurance. It is the ability of our heart and lung systems to cope with activity over a period of time.

Stamina is important in any team game and is very important for my position, flanker as I have to get around the pitch. With a high level of stamina it means I can be at most rucks and mauls, and last the whole game and my skill levels stay high throughout the game. One of the reasons that I have a high level of aerobic fitness is because I have a high VO2 max which is . Due to me having a high VO2 max means that I can use much more oxygen the other people. I can work my body at a higher rate for longer periods and will suffer less fatigue than people with a lower VO2 max. You can measure your stamina by doing several tests one of these being a 12 minute cooper run which I ran 3300m which is a high score. I have a high level of stamina because I do a lot of aerobic training such as jogging, cycling and swimming.

Strategy/technique

Decision-making

In rugby it is a good advantage if you are good at making decisions especially in key positions such as outside half scrum half and full back. As I often play scrum half it means that it helps that I am good at making decision such as if and when I should pass the ball and if so who too. You do not just need to be able to make decisions playing in these positions. For example you have to make decisions on what line out move to call or how you should defend i.e. blitz or push.

I no that I am good at making decisions as I do not make to many bad decisions.

Weaknesses

Skill/ technique

Kicking

If I were a good kicker I would be a better all round player. I do not really need to be good at kicking however it would be useful to be a good kicker especially when playing scrumhalf. Playing scrumhalf I am often put in the position when I have to clear the ball when put under pressure, I do this by box kicking. Due to me not being that good at kicking I usually do not box kick therefore sometimes putting my outside half under pressure.

I no that kicking is a one of my weaknesses because I have been told by my coach to practise and improve my kicking. I also intrinsically feel that it is a weakness and makes me a less confident player.

Physical fitness

Speed

Speed is the ability to move all or part of the body as quickly as possible. For my bodies to achieve speed, I have to supple energy to our muscles very quickly. The muscles then have to contract in the shortest possible time. We use our anaerobic energy supply system for speed work. If I have a high percentage of fast-twitch fibres in my active muscles then I have a natural advantage. This is one of the reasons why I am not that fast because I have not inherited many fast-twitch fibres.

Speed is key in rugby and is one of my weaknesses. I do not have to be that fast in the position I play but it would make me a better player if I was faster. It would mean that I could catch up with people and make tackles and even get past more people.

It is important that that my acceleration is fast as I would not need to sprint more than 60m at a time. My acceleration time for a 40m sprint is 4.5 secs which is not that slow however could be easily improved.

Agility

Agility is the ability to change the direction of the body at speed. It is a combination of speed, balance, power and coordination.

My time for my Illinois run shows that my agility is not that good. If I had better agility it would mean that I would possibly be better at sidestepping and getting passed people. With me trying to improve my speed it would be an advantage if I could improve my agility as they are both related.

Strategy/technique

Spatial awareness

Spatial awareness is the ability to realise what and who is around you. It helps if you have good special awareness in any team game as it allows you to notify what you should do. Decision-making is part of spatial awareness, as you have to realise who is around you and what you should do. For example if you got an overlap and that you should do a miss pass, or if there is no fullback and that you should chip it over the top.

If I had better spatial awareness it would make me a better overall player. It would specifically make me a better player if I had better spatial awareness when playing scrum half. It would mean that I could notify where the fullback is and if I should box kick the ball over the top. It would also help me in making a decision such as passing the ball out or going for a run.

I no that my spatial awareness is not that good because I have had feedback off my fellow teammates telling me so. In some circumstances I have ran with the ball into contact when we had an overlap.