Every 2-3 years I have a “Board-Meeting of one”. It’s a period of time where I re-evaluate everything that I am doing. It is a practice Eric Tocknell encouraged me to do early in my walk with God as I sought His will for my life. I even maintain this discipline in seasons of my life where I feel comfortable, fulfilled and prosperous. Mostly to avoid complacency from creeping in and to ensure that I am receiving direction for my life from my Father rather than from what life and circumstances throw at me.
In my next email I will share just how impactful and life changing this can be and how much my fulfilled life did change when I least expected it to during this time.
However, one of the changes that did arise during this time for me last year was a desire to try my hand at coaching a young rugby side. As it turns out a position came up at the school where my wife teaches and after completing my Bok-Smart and Level 1 training courses I am now a coach for the u15 team. To cut a long story shorter, I had to put a team together with boys that I did not know and have never seen play before. They all had their favourite positions and they let me know about it, especially if they had played in that position in the “A” team in previous years.
I needed a tool to help me assess whether their preferred positions best suited them and the team, so I got a game of touch rugby going. In fact, we played touch rugby at 2 separate practices, with me mixing up the rules from time to time to look for different skill sets within the boys. I got to see many astonished faces as I called out my backline players and their positions at the 3rd practice. What had transpired was this. The scrumhalf was now flyhalf; the flyhalf was now fullback; the fullback was now on the bench as a utility player, covering flyhalf, centre and fullback and coming on as an impact player in the 2nd half. My centres remained the same, however the outside centre is slowly being transformed into a right wing as he has shown a much better affinity to finishing than off-loading. The left wing has remained in place and a bench player has shifted in to scrumhalf. A mouthful I know but what I wanted you to see was the entire backline, bar one had been shifted.
The team’s win percentage last year was 40% with, on average, two tries being scored per game. To date we have lost only one game, a high scoring one at that, and by one point too (our opposition scoring on the final hooter of the game). This year the team is scoring on average 5 tries per game and look like a totally different side to last year. The odd thing though is that when the season actually got under way our practice days started to dry up with many other conflicting matters preventing us from training. We are entering each match horribly unprepared, but yet we are winning and have the best win ratio in the school (early days I know), and this is without much practice – clearly the coaching isn’t the reason for the change in the team’s fortunes. What must it be?
Simply, the difference is having the right person in the right position!! They are playing in the position they have been designed for. Their talents are now being given full expression and they are loving the opportunity of putting it on display. We have heard comments about how happy they are as a team compared to last year (granted winning always does that), but I’d like to think it has something to do with them playing in their area of strength and skill. What has blown me away is that the team sheet comprises of 22 players on match day, but we get up to 30-33 arriving at the match – why?
I can’t answer that question for sure, but they tell me “it’s because we are brothers on and off the field”. Maybe they know instinctively that they have a valuable part to play in the context of team that goes beyond the team sheet that we haven’t even touched on yet as players and coach. They possibly know instinctively that their brothers want them there at the match, that they need them there at the match. They are inspired and encouraged when they see them there, as they are urged to make that extra tackle, to run that extra meter and then, when a break occurs their brothers run on, with pride, to give them a bottle of water!!
Imagine what we could be doing, how effective we could be, how happy we could be if we were doing what our Father has designed us to do. I am presently discovering just how great that feels!!