Trials and Tribulations

The difficulties of coaching any high school sport are known by many. Students not making it to practice, grades, work schedules, and a myriad of social situations make for long weeks of wondering why numbers at practices are down or why players are producing the way the coach imagines. Now take all that, add in a sport that most people in this country aren't familiar with, and throw in a dash of lack of support from the high schools and add field issues and what comes out is nothing if not a miracle every season. I can't take credit for so much of the workings of the rugby team I help coach, mostly I just show up and offer observations. The magic of rugby goes into the hours spent by the coaches arranging meetings with school officials that don't know or care about the sport, hours spent on the phone to find a field to practice on and another to play on, and carefully structuring a season concept for a bunch of students that aren't familiar with the game. Its hard to imagine a coach not having a massive coronary then when certain non-profit group forgets about a meeting and locks the doors to their building when the coaches are set to use it. I won't say that rugby coaches are the worst off or that they have to do it all alone, the community that surrounds an established rugby club and has been touched by rugby is often eager to give back. However sometimes when you're standing outside a locked door on a grey day it seems that there is never enough support...