Recently I was fortunate to spend the morning with Peter Jeffrey at the National Badminton Centre (NBC) in Milton Keynes. Peter is a National Coach for GB Badminton and has coached at World Championships, European Championships and the Olympics. It was a privilege to be able to get to the NBC in time for the session starting at 8am so that I could observe and chat with him - there was plenty I will take that can help to inform my own coaching, my coaching development and inspire me to generate ideas as to different ways to coach rugby and help athletes learn and improve. What follows covers some of the key talking points...

[...on whether he coaches the players to quickly process the information or focus on reactions...]
With these players it is all about reaction speed. From my point of view, I want to expose them to various different scenarios so they can quickly recognise them when in competition. Ideally I want them to play with an empty head, the sheer speed of the game at this level makes it hard to pick up information, process it and then make decisions. I try to provide the environment where they can build that experience and context to quickly recognise scenarios and react to them.


[...on how the best in the group can continue to improve to the level required for international competition...]
As you can see the majority of the session has been based around gameplay in different situations. Often we overload the opposition so it may be 3v2. This way they have to react quicker, work harder, they have less of the court to aim for etc. However it is also of benefit to those in the 3 too, playing certain shots or working on their own footwork against good opposition. You can see how as they fatigue the footwork starts to decrease or with the younger players everything is coming at them much quicker than they are used to so they are just trying to get it back rather than transition into attack.


How do you establish the goals for their improvement over the course of the year and how does this session fit within them?
The goals are in place both for the group and individually. We highlight Technical, Tactical, Physical, Mental and lifestyle goals over the course of a year which are recorded in the players' individual planners. So much of their time is spent travelling to and from competitions so that has to be accounted for too. We also work on Group Themes where we may spend a month looking at one particular aspect before moving on. For those players who podium then we are looking at it in the context of a four year cycle for the Olympics - we have certain targets that we set along the way to ensure that they are on track.


Recently I was at Denstone College where the big theme for their athletes was Challenge and Support. I imagine similar must apply here with players coming from all over the country to train and prepare for competitions etc?
Yes, and that's particularly relevant with our younger players who come here at 18 or 19. They are on the verge of adult competition and have come here having experienced plenty of success growing up in national and international junior events but not necessarily with the same attention to detail for their training, their strength and conditioning etc. Players often come in with some clear flaws to their game and bad habits that have developed whilst growing up. It hasn't stopped them winning in the younger age groups but can really hinder them going forward. The process of fixing those bad habits can be really tough for them - in the short-term it will effect their performance, leading to frustration and maybe confidence issues. So it is about providing that support and we have a Psychologist and Lifestyle Advisor at hand for them who can help with the psychological side of things in both performance and settling into a new area away from home etc.


You used to play at this level too, how was the transition from playing to coaching?
It was difficult in many ways. It helped me slightly that my last year of playing I was also involved in coaching so it made the transition less stark. But the mindset is so different - you have to move from being selfish to selfless. Initially I was incredibly vocal as a coach, reacting to everything. I knew I couldn't carry on that way and deeply considered what type of coach I wanted to be and learnt to adjust my behaviour more in line with that vision.


When I'm coaching, I'm very much in that coaching mindset rather than playing but find it interesting in dealing with the stress of high level occasions - where is the outlet for those nerves, concerns, frustrations etc. When playing, you go out, make a tackle then feel fine and you're in the game. I think there needs to be a detachment when coaching?
I think it is about embracing the environment and seeking to thrive within it. Also just focusing on the elements that you can control so that your mind isn't cluttered with useless information or emotion.


How have you managed your own coaching development and how do you continue to improve?
I did the coaching courses originally with some resistance but knew they had to be done. In 2011 I was selected for the UK Sport ECAP (Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Programme) which I thought was very good. I took a lot from it, probably the most useful was my mentor on the course who I still speak to regularly. It is useful to have that sounding board to bounce ideas off and he will often try to present a different point of view for me to consider. Sometimes he'll forward through a research paper that may be of interest too and having those different perspectives has been really useful in helping me to develop.


You are within a high pressure environment and have coached at Olympics etc - how do you find a way to switch off so that it doesn't consume you?
There is an element of experience to it and getting to know and understand myself. I know now how much sleep I need to function properly, I know how to energise myself and likewise switch on/off. That self-awareness is really important. The coaches and players here have done personality profiles and that was interesting in getting a guide as to how I can work on being comfortable in situations I wouldn't normally enjoy. Those profiles have also been great in getting to know our athletes, which is important for a coach - to know what motivates them, how they learn best, how they react to different situations, how pressure might change their normal behaviour etc. Pressure response is a fascinating topic. In terms of switching off then when coaching here at home having two kids is a good way to focus on something different! When at competitions I always find exercise and music good too. It is hard to have your mind cluttered working overdrive whilst in the gym and singing along to music!

Having gone full-time as a coach in January 2014 I felt I had some catching up to do following 18 months at a desk in the City. Whilst I had been running Edge alongside this role, I knew I need to invest properly in my coaching career and start reading up again on all manner of coaching topics. It was in this capacity that Jamie Taylor's excellent blog ( here ) became a vital part of my reading, leading to constantly scribbling notes down in my chosen notebook. I knew that he would be a good person to visit and had seen through his tweets, and the articles that he shared, that he is an outstanding, progressive and forward-thinking coach. Fortunately I was able to organise a trip up the M1 to Denstone College (a school with an ever-increasing reputation on the national rugby scene) for the day to get an insight into what they are doing, how they are doing it and why. Some highlights are below.

What is the basis of the rugby program at Denstone?
For me, it is all about challenge and support. We want to put our rugby players out of their comfort zone in training, with their S&C, in matches etc. We present them with that challenge and support them as best we can to achieve it. If they are unable to meet the challenge as an individual or as a team then again, that is where the support comes in to help them build that resilience to go again.


And how does that feature into the overall objective for rugby?
The main objective is not to attain glory for the school. We play as tough a fixture list as we can to challenge the boys because our key aim is based around development and the educational benefits of rugby (such as teamwork, leadership, grit, respect). We want to provide the best school rugby experience possible so as to ensure that our boys continue to play and enjoy their rugby once they have left. The elite environment we seek to provide for our students has led to a number of students being involved with Academies such as Leicester, Worcester and Sale. Leavers gaining Academy contracts and playing to a very high level, as well as general participation at University and beyond, is an important driver and measure of success for us. We focus on competition, and all that brings, rather than just winning.


What have you put in place in order to foster than environment?
Across the board we apply elite principles to the school environment but the first key point for us is Character and Values. Within this we focus on Teamwork, Pride, Commitment and Enjoyment. The boys are aware of this but the challenge lies in ensuring that we all live those values rather than just be able to recite them. That's something that as a collective - staff and players, we strive to maintain. Second for us is Athletic Development. Our Strength and Conditioning (S&C) team do a fantastic job in co-ordination with us as rugby coaches to produce physically robust players who can cope with, and dominate, the demands of the game. We now have Movement Lit as a PE module in Years 7-9 and welcome all our students to the gym, and field-based athletic development sessions, so we can educate them in how to train in a safe manner. Third is Psychology, and finally Tactical and Skill Development. It's a whole-school initiative with an educational focus - encouraging our students to think about, and understand, the nature of their sport and training.


How does this approach manifest itself within the rugby environment for training and matches?
I have to say I'm a very competitive person, as are many of the boys. However there is a bigger picture. We focus on their development and rising to the challenge. Challenge Point Framework (Guadagnoli and Lee, 2004) talks about the optimum challenge for skill acquisition.  We have established a continuum for the acquisition and retention of skill  that we can apply depending on what stage of skill acquisition they are at - subsequently some sessions will have a theme of either Explore or Perform whereby the focus is either on learning, thinking and developing or performing and executing to a high level what has been covered in training. 

It was certainly interesting to hear first-hand what is driving Denstone College forward as a force in schools' rugby. It is also thanks to Jamie that I have now downloaded the apps 'Pocket' and 'Evernote' which are already proving useful in keeping on top of various coaching articles and maintaining my own time management! With two full-time S&C coaches at Denstone, and Jamie's comments regarding the prevalence of Movement Lit and use of the athletic development resource for all ages, it was fascinating to hear from Daniel Pyke how they actually put this into practice. 

Dan, can you explain the S&C provision at Denstone?
We have two full-time S&C coaches and we work both with the sports teams as well as with the students in general. Teams do have specific slots at times, and the older athletes are on more specific conditioning programmes which they complete during the course of the week. But we see it as a whole-school thing - Movement Literacy is a module in PE for our Year 7-9 students and lunch-time sees the Performance Centre open to any and all students of all ages. We apply high performance principles in a school environment with movement, education and enjoyment at the heart of our practise.


How do you ensure students are doing the right things and in a safe way - sometimes you must have to hold them back from getting on the bench press ASAP for example?
Sometimes, certainly initially we occasionally had to hold them back. But it is all about education. At Denstone now they are educated about how to treat their body around their training or in a nutritional sense. By no stretch to the younger pupils just come in and do what they want throwing the weight around - the educational side is informed in many ways by the Athletic Motor Skill Competencies (Rhodri Lloyd, 2013). So we have a programme in place called 'Earn The Right To Progress'. With various movements and levels of achievement we can progress the pupils in a safe manner as and when they are individually ready. 


How does this tie in with the rugby at Denstone College?
We both work closely with Jamie to monitor the development of our athletes. The Performance Centre is a great opportunity to build and re-inforce the culture that we have established as well as to build the psychological characteristics that we want Denstone pupils to possess - resilience, determination and a desire to improve. Here, through S&C, we can provide the challenge for them in a physical and mental sense as well as providing the support necessary. We can keep things competitive and fun so that their health and fitness doesn't have to be seen as a chore. Again, it all comes down to education and enjoyment.


As the boys get older they'll have school rugby, maybe club/Academy/County involvement and also the S&C sessions - how do you manage to ensure they don't burn out?
One of the important values for having us here is that health & safety aspect to make sure the boys are progressing safely with their gym work. Part of this, of course, is to monitor them to ensure they aren't doing too much. They are in the habit now of entering the gym and using the laptop to record their soreness, tiredness and energy levels for each session. This gives us really important data that we can monitor so that, when required, we adjust their programme or tell them to rest. Likewise I may have to speak to Jamie to alert him to certain players' fatigue levels so that it can be accounted for in pitch sessions too. 


It's incredibly impressive, and very clear that the students are buying-in to it all. It is also, from what I have seen, pretty rare in a school environment - is it something that will stay rare in your opinion?
It is rare to an extent. There are other schools and colleges who are also doing great things with their students in this respect. However I think it is about to explode and become much more commonplace. Whilst it does provide a competitive advantage, it is most importantly about education and challenging the students to improve.

 From my brief visit, even during exam period, it was clear that the students certainly do buy-in to culture that Jamie, Dan, Thomas Williams (Director of Sport) and the staff have built. The lunch-time session had a mixture of age groups, boys and girls, working on their specific stage of training. Furthermore, they were working together and helping where needed with the older boys assisting younger in understanding the nature of the warm-up exercises. From my point of view, this cross-age interaction is vital in establishing, and spreading, the culture of a school on the whole and in a sporting sense. Beyond this, without them even realising, the pupils are developing their leadership skills as a mentor and coach. The hours for the staff are long and tiring, no doubt, but the students can only benefit. Indeed, many may not quite be aware how fortunate they are to have this information, education and support available to them until they have moved on from Denstone College.

For the fourth edition of #CoachingConversations I was fortunate enough to catch up with Paul Holmes of 1823 Rugby and the Tiger Rugby Academy in Columbus, Ohio. It provided a fascinating insight into American Rugby and how it is continuing to grow. Furthermore, as a coach it was inspiring for me personally and I'll take from it the motivation to be different, blaze your own trail and invest in yourself. 

As a South African living in the United States, how did it all start?
I grew up playing rugby and had some excellent experiences as a result. My wife is American so I soon found myself in Ohio where my starting point was Personal Training. At the time I was a bit fed-up with the set-up of rugby in the area so decided to get involved with coaching, originally at a collegiate level. I then decided to establish 1823 as a club and it has grown rapidly. It's a huge year coming up for us and we have clear goals of success at all levels - hopefully, through our training and methodology, we can achieve that this year on all fronts.. We're a young group, the average age is 22 and we have 57 players competing for just 12 spots so we are in a good position.

I was introduced to James Walker who has done a fantastic job with Belmont Shore RFC winning the National Championship three times. He had Tiger Rugby which, at the time, was a touring side 7s side. They were having good success and put an emphasis on philanthropic endeavours in countries they toured. Things developed from there to where we now have the Tiger Rugby Academy - we want to equip these young American players to have a life outside of their rugby whilst pushing their performance to the highest standard they can achieve. Our number 1 priority is always the player - they are housed, they earn whilst with us, they train their rugby. We've got some truly outstanding prospects.

Is 7s the best gateway to the American audience as well as the players themselves? It's, arguably, more exciting, higher scoring as well as slightly easier to pick up in some ways for talented athletes..
I think 7s is certainly better for TV. It's a fast game, it suits the sporting culture for tailgating and making the most of the day. However, it has a limit - American fans love to be able to follow a team and watch them live. With 7s their opportunity to do that is so limited - once a year there is a home tournament, otherwise they are off around the globe on the 7s Series. As a result I think 15-a-side rugby remains the future.


How far can it go? Will it 'make it' as a big sport?
Absolutely. The challenges are there in terms of geography and the sheer size of the country - for fixtures or tournaments, players have to take Friday and Monday off work, as well as being able to get to the destination. However, the growth is most certainly there. Ohio alone now has 50 teams and other states are seeing similar uptake. There are good competitions out there that are based on regional conferences - I think that is the way forward.


Have you noticed any difference working with American athletes compared to other nationalities?
American athletes are really hard workers. The lack of recreational sport means that those who are lucky enough to play at a High School and Collegiate level are already at a high standard within their sport. They are therefore bred in a professional environment, carry a professional attitude and have very high expectations. At times that can be a source of frustration for them, if they aren't progressing at the rate they would like, but they are, on the whole, very driven athletes.


How has it effected your coaching language when coaching former American Football or Basketball players - do you have to frame your coaching with references they understand? Or do they just have to learn Rugby for what it is?
Certainly we use references that they can understand. Basketball terminology often works well as it has some more similarities with Rugby than Football does. Basketball players are used to working both attack and defence as well as how to create, and exploit, space. In contrast, Football is all about yards not space. Often those coming from a Football background have been limited to just paying on one side of the ball. As a result defensive players can be too reactive, whereas offensive players are too early to everything!


I often come across the phrase 'Coaching Philosophy' here, how would you describe the basis of your coaching?
An absolute focus on fundamentals. The basic, individual skills of rugby are so important and that is why most countries are so far behind New Zealand. I see it simply - players need to concentrate on the elements that they can control. Fundamental skills, mindset etc they are all well within the control of a player if they want to improve. At the Academy I often encourage these guys to watch as much Rugby as they possible can - remember, they don't have the culture of having grown up playing and watching rugby. It's so important for them to watch and learn as much as possible to try and increase their Rugby IQ. 

Beyond that, I take a holistic approach and focus on the player. What is best for them? How can they be the best version of themselves? So many players watch rugby and decide they want to be Sonny Bill Williams or equivalent, but they can't - they haven't grown up in the same culture, they don't have the same players around them, it is an unrealistic aspiration. However, they can work on their own skills, be the best they can be and forge their own path. They need to look inward first and foremost.


Do you have any advice for me, and other young coaches, that you think is worth passing on?
Always take small steps to credibility. Plenty of people talk a good game, but believe in what you are doing and over-exceed expectations. Be different and create your own path with focus and determination. A phrase that comes to mind is "The surest investment is always in yourself".