I always started the matches slowly. It would often take me 20 minutes or so to get into the game, which was not good enough because I would often make mistakes early on. It is so important to be ready, both mentally and physically, as soon as that whistle goes by preparing properly.
Jonny, British university player
Preparation refers to the processes of ensuring that you are ready for a forthcoming rugby match or training session. As such, this involves the behaviours (e.g., diet, abstinence from alcohol, physical training) and thoughts (e.g., mental practice) that you engage in leading up to a specific event such as a rugby match. Preparation includes the following:
1. Physical preparation. Physical preparation refers to the process of ensuring that your body is physically ready for a match, such as (a) being warmed up at the start of the match, (b) starting the match with optimal energy levels, and (c) performing relevant movements in the warm up, such as passing, tacking, and catching.
2. Mental preparation. Preparing yourself mentally includes the practices that you engage in to ensure that your mind is ready for the challenge of a rugby match, and can include (a) listening to the same music on the way to a match, (b) visualising what you want to happen, and (c) psyching yourself up or calming yourself down.
Callard the COACH
In the past, games were always on a Saturday around midafternoon. Nowadays, matches are on Friday evenings, Saturdays, and even on Sundays. Players and coaches must be able to adjust and get the preparation needed to optimise performance. Both physical and mental preparation must be correct.
The answer is yes. Preparation is extremely important to your performance both in rugby and in other domains of your life. As the old saying goes, ‘Fail to prepare, then prepare to fail.’
Preparation is crucial because the best opportunity to score a try in a match might occur in the very first minute or your opponents’ best attack might occur within the first minute. You have to be ready from the first whistle either to score that try or to make the try-saving tackle. Optimal physical and mental preparation will ensure that you are ready from the first minute until the last minute.
Poor preparation is not necessarily when an athlete does no preparation whatsoever. A rugby player may attempt to prepare, but the preparation is deemed as being poor when it is inadequate for maximising performance. Poor preparation occurs when you have not gone through the right procedures in time to get yourself ready, either physically or mentally for a particular situation, such as training session or match. Examples of poor physical preparation include not attending training sessions in relation to a forthcoming match, not trying in training, eating a poor diet, or not allowing enough time for your body to recover from alcohol if you drink. Poor mental preparation occurs when you don’t spend time thinking about what you want to achieve in a particular match or training session nor spend time thinking about how you are going to achieve your goals. Alternatively, some players have routines that they go through in their minds during build up to matches such as visualising different aspects of the game. An example of poor mental preparation would be a player who usually visualises not bothering with this routine for a particular match.
Some players may ignore physical preparation, others might ignore mental preparation, whereas some players might make any mental or physical preparation in the build up to matches or training sessions. Sometimes players can become complacent with their previous performance and think that because things are going well they don’t need to prepare. This is the wrong attitude to adopt. Generally, when rugby players take short cuts in preparation, performance will suffer. Another reason why some players may fail to prepare either mentally or physically is because they are unaware of the importance of both mental and physical preparation.
Failing to prepare properly can have a variety of undesirable consequences, which could include:
• Poor performance
• Decreased confidence, as a result of performing poorly
• Increased risk of injury because you might not be mentally alert and ready to impacts
• Increased stress levels as players who don’t prepare adequately worry more, because deep down they know they are not ready to perform.
For most of us, there will be instances when we have not prepared as well as we could have done for a match. Think of a match that you did not prepare properly. Write down what you did, if anything, both physically and mentally that contributed to you not preparing properly in table 3.1. Also write the consequences of this poor preparation. For example, you might not have hydrated yourself fully for the match, you might not have warmed up fully, or cut corners in your training in the build to a match. These would be examples of poor physical preparation. Once you have listed your poor physical preparation now list your mental preparation. You might have not have set goals for your upcoming match or focused on what you wanted to accomplish. Then write down what happened in the match, which are the consequences of poor preparation.
Callard the COACH
It is important to plan well and cover the majority of incidents that could happen in a game to give yourself the best chance of performing well. But you need to get the balance right between underpreparing and overpreparing. Overpreparing can be detrimental to your performance. I have seen international players and club coaches worry about too many things the day before kickoff. They stay on their feet far too long trying to improve themselves and the team. The tank has to be full and the team needs to be full of confidence to play and perform. Less can be best in this situation!
Physical preparation for your next game can start immediately after a match when you perform cool-down exercises and stretches, but most of your physical preparation starts during your first training session after your previous game. If you play a match on Saturday and your next training session is on Monday, then this is when you have to step up physically to prepare for your next match. Training represents physical and tactical preparation for matches. But you should also start thinking about your upcoming match before your first training session and ask yourself these questions:
1. What do I want to work on in today’s training to be ready for my next match?
2. How I am going to make sure that I practice what I need to practice in training?
3. What do I want to achieve in training this week?
4. What do I want to prevent from happening in training?
Table 3.2 is a sample response to some of these questions regarding your mental preparation for training. After reviewing it, complete table 3.3 with your own answers.
Go into every training session with clear objectives regarding what you want to achieve, so that each training session involves both physical and mental preparation.
The day before the match is crucial in determining how well you are going to perform the following day. View the week leading up to the match as the foundation for your performance. A strong foundation is required for maximum performance.
By the time you get to this point you will have been involved in training sessions, barring any injury, and will have completed most of your physical preparation. This is the day to be confident in your physical preparation. Knowing that you have not cut any corners in your physical preparation should give you confidence because you have done everything in your power to ensure that you will be able to perform at your best. If you have cut corners in training, ask yourself why you have done that and work out what you can do to prevent this from occurring in the future. If you continue to cut corners you have to accept that you will never perform to your true potential.
Although most of your physical preparation is complete, especially by the day before the match, your mental preparation becomes more prominent. On the evening of the match spend 10 to 15 minutes mentally imaging these items (see chapter 6 for more information on mental imagery):
• What you want to happen in tomorrow’s match
• How you will achieve what you want to happen in tomorrow’s match
• How you will play to your strengths
• How you will avoid exposing your weaknesses to your opponents
• Your role within the team
• Various attacking formations
• Defensive patterns
A useful way to start is to write down what you want to happen before you start visualising. Table 3.4 is an example of a completed mental preparation sheet. Complete your own mental preparation questions before visualising (table 3.5).
Do this before each match because the answer to your questions could vary greatly depending previous opponents, the weather, and the way that your coach wants to play.
This 10-minute imagery routine the night before the match should fill you with feelings of confidence and empowerment. Imagery is designed to get you ready for the challenges that lie ahead. It is normal and even a good thing for you to feel slightly apprehensive or nervous on the night before a match, because it shows that you care.
Do not spend more than 10 to 15 minutes visualising at the match because too much imaging can cause feelings of severe anxiety or worry, which can be draining and result in mental fatigue. After you complete your visualisation spend the rest of the evening relaxing by doing activities that you enjoy such as reading, watching a film, or viewing your favourite television programme to help you relax and switch off. Do not dwell on the negative things that can happen such as making mistakes or selection issues for future matches, because these thoughts are not constructive. Above all, be confident that you have done everything within your power both physically and mentally for the match the following day. Take confidence from knowing that you have done all the right things.
Callard the COACH
A meeting between the coaches and players was organised the night before the match. This match was probably the biggest game in the club’s short history, a cup final at Twickenham against the best cup club side in the country.
We would generally meet the night before a match to reinforce tactics, remind players of their roles and responsibilities, and ease some of the tensions that players get before a game. This was a two-way process for the benefit of both the players and the management.
In this particular meeting, various game scenarios were played out. When I look back at this, I believe that it was the underlying factor in our magnificent performance the next day!
Players, as a group, were asked questions: What happens if we lose the captain in the first five minutes? What happens if we go one score down? What happens if we lose a particular member to the sin bin? What is our focus to get back into the game?
Yes, every coach has these plans and covers all eventualities, but rarely does he or she spend time working in a forum situation with the players to get an understanding from them. This sort of meeting gets total buy-in from the players and allows them to stay on task without being distracted.
We did lose the captain after 3 minutes, and not only that, we lost another influential player after 20! The team remained focused and executed the game plan perfectly. It was the best 40 minutes invested in the working week!
Although this book is dedicated to the psychology of rugby, it is well worth mentioning that you need to have enough food in your system by eating the correct diet (see a registered dietician for this information) to give you maximum energy. Make sure as well that you are fully hydrated leading up to the game. Although you may feel too nervous to eat, you must eat and allow time for your body to digest the food that you have eaten.
In preparing yourself mentally, do not spend the whole day leading up to the match thinking about it, because you may waste nervous energy. At the same time, don’t wait until the match has started before starting your preparation. You will be far too late!
Start your mental preparation before the match starts. Rugby is often considered a game of two halves, and rightly so because a rugby match consists of a first and second half. But if you view rugby as just a game of two halves, you could be missing out on mental preparation time that you can do before the match (prematch) and mental preparation that you can do during halftime. View the warm-up session before the match as when the match really starts; it is a time when you begin gearing up for what lies ahead. You should also mentally prepare during halftime. As such, you could view your preparation for rugby matches as a game of four quarters: prematch, first-half set plays, halftime, and second-half set plays.
Break your preparation down into these four quarters: prematch (table 3.6 on page 38), first-half set plays (table 3.7 on page 39), halftime (table 3.8 on page 40), and second-half set plays (table 3.9 on page 40). Figure 3.1 on page 41 gives you a visual representation of how this time breaks down.
• Preparation refers to the process of getting yourself physically and mentally ready for a rugby match or training session.
• Preparation is crucial for optimal performance.
• Start your preparation early.
• Find out what works for you, and stick to your performance routine.
