Players from twelve Munster Rugby and Connacht Rugby club or school teams made their way to Villers School today for the PSA Rugby Clinic Limerick. This was our first high performance event at the Limerick School venue.
When they got there, they enjoyed an action-packed, challenging but fun half day programme that covered core rugby skills development in passing and defence, game management scenarios to develop communication and C.A.R.D.S. games to test awareness, resilience, decision making and self organisation.
The day started off with registration and a brief introduction from Head Coach for the day, PSA Academies’s Johne Murphy. Johne explained that the key objective for the Clinic was to introduce the group to the high performance principles behind the PSA Academies philosophy. These importantly underpin the programme that will be delivered on the PSA Rugby Academy Limerick and all our Rugby Academies this summer. That made today the ideal taster for these future rugby camps.
Once the group was split by age group, it was off to the well equipped indoor hall at Villers School for two engaging starter sessions – a Shadowball Passing Masterclass led by Garryowen RFC player and Glenstal School JCT head coach Ben Swindlehurst and a challenging hand-eye coordination game delivered under the watchful eye of Tyrone Elliott, Skills Coach at Cistercian College Roscrea.
Fully tuned up, the group made their way to the pitch at Villiers. This is where Daniel Meehan and Donough McGillycuddy from Defence Equipment partners Shadowman Sports had set up their innovative tackling units. This cutting edge equipment that is transforming tackling in the American Football industry in the US.
Here, the two playing groups combining boys and girls players, Minis with 10-11 years, and Intermediate/Advanced with 12 years and older players, rotated through three varied stations covering;
- Defence with Shadowman Sports – the rope game (developing co-ordination, group timing and communication), three of the key principles of the tackle plus a variety of defence games to execute the perfect tackle technique.
- Attack & Defence games to illustrate the fundamentals of creating space, lines of running and passing
- C.A.R.D.S. games to test the critical thinking, decision making, teamwork and communications skills of the players under fatigue
After four hours experiencing a wide range of concepts, the group gathered for a final photo on the pitch. Captured as a group on camera, they headed back to the pick up area at the school for a final overview and debrief with Johne Murphy.
Judging by the feedback from players and parents, the day was a great success. There’s little doubt that the interest in the high performance residential and non-residential rugby camps across Ireland in the summer is only going to grow. Thanks to all who attended on the day, representing Villiers School, Garryowen RFC, Nenagh Ormond RFC, Young Munster RFC, Old Crescent RFC, Galwegians RFC, Corrib RFC, UL Bohemians RFC, Shannon RFC, Gort RFC and Newcastle West RFC.
See you all in the Summer!
