Rugby Indiana Development Summit - 4 Takeaways

On Sunday, December 8 Rugby Indiana hosted its annual development summit in Kokomo, Indiana.
I want to share with you some of the takeaways I had from the day. I've been attending this annual meeting for youth coaches and administrators since 2007. This meeting has morphed over the years and it's important to analyze these gatherings to foster even more development.

• The Board is Directing 
•    The Rugby Indiana Board of Directors seems to have settled in over the past few years and are neatly putting together committees for growth and management. Wayne Eells is still the right guy to wade through the chest-high mud of compliance and technical roles, hopefully, our community continues to put good people on the board that wants to see progress and help grow the game without any self-serving interests. 
     Melissa Alexander who heads the programming committee presented on best practices for charging gate fees, using the Safe Sport policies for One-to-One interactions to communicate with players and explaining the spring tournament process. The communication with players stems from the growing number of college and varsity travel sides in the country who are looking for access to players. As coaches, we are charged with protecting our players and modeling best practices. No one should be contacting your kids one on one, in person or electronically. Use the rule of 2:1 when working and messaging with youth, two applicable adults to every player or players.
   
• Speaker Presentations
•      Can we go ahead and book Kevin Donnelly for the next five years? He does a great job on an off the field with referee relations and development. As a coach, I appreciate him emphasizing fairness and safety. This was the first time I've seen the referee certification levels presented and I'm excited for us to put more C3s on the pitch this spring.
       The coach presentation came from the Utah Warriors Director of Rugby Brandon Sparks. Unfortunately, there was some technical issues with his powerpoint. (the public speaker equivalent to forgetting the kicking tee) Brandon has a wealth of rugby and coaching knowledge, but the audience differed greatly in their own understanding so I am not sure what the biggest takeaways were. I know for me I want to get my eyes on that practice plan template from Florida State Football. His advice to shadow other sports and practices was good, as rugby coaches, we are responsible for 100% of our professional development after our initial certification course. For me, I now know it's safe to practice behind the back passes and we should keep using backward planning for practice goals.
   
• Empty Seats
• Last year's summit seemed to be really well attended. It was also the first year for the $5 registration discount for teams that send someone. It seems the $5 discount wasn't as big of a reward this season because the room was only about half full. Perhaps it's time to offer another type of reward? Could coaches/admins watch via live stream? I think if coaches had a chance to meet with each other and collaborate on what's working well for them, maybe even offer three streams of development like the NDS, divided into referee, coach, and admin. Not knowing who the speakers are and the agenda for the day is a big part of why I had a hard time getting more of my cohorts to make the trip.
• Big Bites
• RI will now reimburse teams for L200 coaching courses. 
• Boys can wear tights just like the girls.
• Feb 8 at Culver Academies
• L200 Coach Course and L1 Referee Course
• Feb 9 at Culver Academies
• USA Rugby First Aid Course
• USA Rugby Strength and Conditioning Course 

At the conclusion of the summit, the esteemed Dave Toth presented plans for a 30th Anniversary celebration complete with a special edition logo, celebration banquet, and plans for lifetime achievement awards. Congratulations on 30 years of youth rugby in Indiana!

All Materials Reference can be seen here in the Summit Dropbox: bit.ly/36c0f1u