Intent

Hopefully you would have already read Leigh Woodbridge’s article on tackling in the main section under Spread the Insanity. Leigh addresses a lot of key points in successful tackling in rugby league including the mindset of the tackler himself. In fact Leigh points out that all the physical training in the world won’t make up for fragility of mind.

This leads us once again to an often discussed topic at Brutal, that of intent. A key point in any team sport is to develop a common team intention and within that broader context deliver ‘small wins’. The overall performance of a team, as Leigh suggests, comes down to the cumulative effect of smaller individual battles being consistently won.

Subsidiary Aims

Unfortunately there is a disease that can rot the foundations of any coaching strategy or physical preparation. That disease is the scourge of ‘subsidiary aims’. Most players don’t even know they have them. But they are rife amongst the majority of players. In all sports, players get caught up in trying to achieve things that have either ‘no’ or ‘a detrimental’ effect on the overall outcome for the team. These can include the following:

• One-up-man-ship – a player will seek to intimidate another player in order to gain energy and feel better about himself – this can be physical or mental 
• Playing the hero – trying to perform unnecessarily difficult or stupid plays to gain notoriety
• Distancing – trying to remain on the outskirts of play to give the appearance of being involved but in fact avoiding hardship whenever possible

One of our most popular drills at Brutal group training is the ‘Desperation Drill’. Its purpose is to foster single minded intent in the participants. There is one goal and one goal only. If anyone demonstrates a desire to fulfil any other goal then punishment ensues.

It’s not about the fulfilment of your insecure ego needs. It’s about the success of your team. The team’s success is paramount. As a coach I think it is important to clarify to the team what it is they’re playing for. Things like ‘the team’, ‘your team mates’ or the trophy are fairly nondescript loose terms unlikely to engender the passion required in a contact based power sport like rugby league.

Intensity at an entry point

The more intense you make your players, the more likely they are to perform with passion, courage and improved concentration. I call this state ‘pure intent’. This is when the goal is so pure, so ‘in the moment’ that the player falls into that ideal state known as ‘the zone’. Here’s an example of how I created a savage intensity in a team of beach volleyball players that were experiencing fear at playing a crucial upcoming match.

“All right here’s the deal. I don’t give a f*ck if you lose. I don’t give a f*ck if you don’t even score. I don’t care if they shut you out clean on every point and you don’t serve a ball in. But what I do care about is whether you are performing your skills with a concern for what they’re doing. I want you to serve, attack and defend with absolute reckless abandon. I want you to have no f*cking respect for anything they’re doing and I want you to trust your intuition, whether it’s right or wrong. If you get smashed I want them put on notice that you are the most intense team in the competition. NOW, if you so much as hesitate on any action throughout this game for one millisecond, if you look unsure or are trying to figure out what they’re doing ‘cause your afraid of getting worked out then I’m gonna throw your sh*t out of my house, onto the street and I’ll never coach you again.”

Needless to say, the demonstration of courage became of all consuming importance. They didn’t have to worry about losing ‘cause I didn’t care, and they were playing for me. They only had to show me courage. That was all. Simple, single minded intent. It became pure with their sincerity and they then won a close 3 set match against a much more skilled and experienced team. Bear in mind though that this sort of thing isn’t always the answer. Sometimes players become too intense and their bodies fill with tension rather than a ‘cat on the prowl’ like readiness. It is here that a whole world of unconventional sports psychology opens up as we begin to explore the realm of ‘letting go’.

Stay tuned boppers…