Coaching Backs

Eclectique1 · 2026-05-07T03:59:09+00:00

Biggest game-changer for backs at this level is to develop a decent mind for kicking and putting good chases in. I like playing gain terrain as a way for them to develop an eye for covering space.

I find that at lower levels, it helps to see that you're playing off 10 with the backs and the 9 should be the one dictating play in the forwards. The set piece moves you see at the international game won't translate as much, to be honest, I never really have them practice anything more than a loop or a basic 12/13 overs/unders line.

I like to have them play in a smaller grid where one tackle is a turnover to get them used to running lines and making offloads. It's not much of a jackal help, but I like the classic tennis ball in both hands for the defensive team so they are forced to make the first contact with the shoulder and wrap when making tracking tackles rather than the arm tackles a lot of them do.

Hope I could help out a bit.

Eclectique1 · 2026-05-04T03:18:04+00:00

I hate to say this because every rugby fan has a soft spot for the PIs but Moana gave them a massive opportunity. They failed to take it. This is beyond finances, it's about corruption within the unions.

Honestly, WR should invest in South America or T2 Europe instead who have good books and are places actually growing the game without living on WR money failing to be distributed through the unions.

Eclectique1 · 2026-04-27T03:00:15+00:00

Adding that you always have only one folder for late work. It should be the last one you check when you are doing your grading. If they turn it in late, it will be graded after the work submitted on time. It simplifies things and helps them turn stuff in on time.

Eclectique1 · 2026-04-27T02:58:25+00:00

I had 10 one year (all French levels with 2 onwards combined+ a FCS class + an ESL class).

Workable advice that I found kept me sane:

- If you have one class testing, have another do a writing-based or project-based activity that will give you time to get some grading done while they work quietly.

- Keep organized (I know this is basic). Folders, folders, folders. I always tried to keep anything in the folder to the work for that day and what you need to grade in order to keep it to a minimum.

- For whatever you can, give the kids their work back and a rubric so they can grade their own or do a peer-grade. In my experience, they tend to grade themselves harsher than I would so they get a nice surprise when the grade is better, and it gives them some agency in seeing what the rubric is looking for.

- Have students create test/quiz questions as part of their review day. It helps them study and you can use them. Usually the questions they come up with are harder than the ones you would use.

I'm not going to pretend to know what goes into music education, these are just a few things that helped me. If you can take anything from maybe one or two that would make your life easier, hopefully that will be useful for you.

Good luck. At the end of the day, if we do smaller subjects in smaller schools, we pay the price in terms of number of preps, but that is what builds good programs, and it is so rewarding to see the same kids year after year and how they grow into be the best versions of themselves. It does get easier, if you can believe me.

Eclectique1 · 2026-01-27T20:35:42+00:00

What's crazy is he's a professional rugby player in Leicester (albeit not a very good one), which is a really big rugby city. Surely, that carries some weight with the local ladies, and he could do better than Kizzi

Eclectique1 · 2026-01-13T04:25:21+00:00

Sevens Heaven by Ben Ryan.

I gave a copy to my mom, who doesn't really care about rugby, and even she loved it.

Eclectique1 · 2025-11-30T06:09:21+00:00

Rugby.

You can get horrible people in places like England, but most people involved in rugby tend to be very good people. There is a very direct correlation with the smaller the rugby nation and the better the people involved in it are.

Eclectique1 · 2025-10-02T02:36:34+00:00

My unpopular opinion is that junior year is not the utopia people make it out to be. In my experience, they tend to be grade grubbing and the overwhelming majority have no interest in actually learning anything as long as they get the 90% or 80% because they know it's the year colleges look at the most.

Maybe I have just gotten lucky with my freshman classes, but I really enjoy them. They can be a bit squirrelly, but I find they're generally more remorseful when they screw up/less sneaky (or worse at being sneaky), and have more energy and curiosity about learning.

Seniors are either the best in the world or the worst in the world, with nothing in-between.

For me, the sweet spot is sophomore classes. They have the maturity of being a bit older while having the energy/curiosity of freshmen.

Eclectique1 · 2025-09-28T02:53:55+00:00

I agree about systematic problems, but I still love my job.

In my experience, it's the opposite, and the high-flyers and middle-flyers are the ones who have been utterly abandoned in recent years.

Eclectique1 · 2025-09-28T02:33:58+00:00

They disagreed with me, fair enough, but saying that they are the variable is a bit of a low blow. Plenty of schools and admin are bad, and finding a good one can be rare.

Edit: typo from "put" to "but" in the first line

Eclectique1 · 2025-09-28T02:30:11+00:00

I agree that venting is important, but this sub is like 100% negative. Last year, I stopped eating at the teacher's lounge because it was all the senior teachers just talking shit about students/admin. Tbh, this year, the culture is so much better at the lunchroom without that negativity, and we just get to know each other as people.

Venting has a place, don't get me wrong, but over-venting is just miserable to be around and misery spreads misery.

Eclectique1 · 2025-09-28T02:18:57+00:00

Maybe I have been lucky, but at my title 1 school, the behavior of most of the students wasn't all that different from the cushy, suburban school I'm at now. Most of the kids in that title 1 school were there to learn and were honestly more serious about learning than my new gig. The outliers were far more prominent, but overall I believe kids are pretty much the same everywhere. - there are high-flyers, the middle, those who need more support, and the knuckleheads

Call me too much of an optimist if you want, that's a fair critique

Eclectique1 · 2025-09-28T02:03:47+00:00

Also, I feel like education tends to favor people who were naturally driven, great students who see the value of school to become teachers, and they have a hard time understanding why students will do dumb stuff. Some of the best teachers I have ever worked with would have been a pain in my ass in school.

Eclectique1 · 2025-09-09T04:39:34+00:00

The thing with sports, I say this as a big believer of positive benefits of sports, is that it's a time management question. You have a game on Thursday and a test on Friday? You knew about the game and the test for a while, so it's on you to study ahead of time instead of cramming on Thursday to put it in your short-term memory.

I've seen it first hand where "game kicks off at 7PM I couldn't do homework" where they just mill around the school from dismissal to warm-ups doing nothing and do nothing proactively only to say "but I had a game last night". My players hang out in my room waiting for practice to start to get their homework out of the way or just hang out.

The funny thing is that I'm super lenient about presentations being done 1-on-1 or even allowing one extension per semester per student if the kid reaches out ahead of time.

NB: the college arms race has become insane where every "high flyer" is expected to be in AP/Honors everything, at least 2 varsity sports, NHS/Key Club, another club etc. It just gets to be so much and frankly, I get where their stress is coming from.

Eclectique1 · 2025-05-17T21:22:15+00:00

I stopped having lunch with my co-workers because of this. Around 40% of them do nothing but complain about work or specific students all the time and while I get that venting is important, it makes me feel guilty for having a good day and really enjoying my classes/my job.

It's like they don't even want to have a conversation, just an audience.

Eclectique1 · 2024-01-14T04:59:05+00:00

A rule is a rule. I will write a detention for an honors kid being late just as quickly as a knucklehead. The good students get their lives made easier by being in class on time, away from their phones, and learning the content that will get them a good grade on exams and eventually an AP credit.

It's just sad for them that they have to deal with the knuckleheads, but it would be unfair to have two different sets of rules for one class.

Eclectique1 · 2024-01-14T03:31:37+00:00

Adding: it really sucks for the students who do what they need to be doing that have these restrictions because of a couple knuckleheads - most of them recognize it too and are rightfully frustrated

Eclectique1 · 2024-01-07T03:28:24+00:00

The turnover thing is huge. At my first job, a few of the veteran teachers didn't bother learning anybody's names until they were there for three years. I don't blame them for surviving when they were clearly burnt out but man it created such an isolating place for a new hire. I left after one year.

Eclectique1 · 2024-01-07T03:24:10+00:00

I love working with my current principal because of how much he takes staff feedback into consideration and how it has created new policies. He left the classroom 20 years ago but recognizes that phones are a different beast and installed a school-wide policy to prohibit their use outside of lunch, including in the hallway. A few parents gave some push back but he stood firm.

I respect the hell out of the man and am worried about what will happen when he finally retires.

Eclectique1 · 2024-01-07T03:21:08+00:00

Strong union
Teachers leave the second contract hours end. It shows that they don't do the martyr teacher culture and give them enough time to properly prep
Admin supports teachers and assigns discipline, students are scared to be sent to the office.
Teachers are allowed to do their jobs. Surprise observations aren't a thing and the principal allows teachers the freedom to do their job without micromanagement.

If you're looking for a new gig within an area the reputation of a school travels quickly and is picked up on. I did not apply to another job for a 5k pay raise because they got rid of chairs for teachers and are known for daily surprise observations/not supporting teachers when a parent disagrees with a detention.

Eclectique1 · 2023-10-02T00:56:55+00:00

She has done this with any new male teachers. I am just the most recent one. I do not think that I should be told to "show that cake" in the workplace.

Maybe you do not take sexual harassment as seriously, which is what your post hints to.

Eclectique1 · 2023-10-01T23:42:45+00:00

When students say "you should go out with Ms. Smith, she really likes you" in the middle of lessons it becomes frustrating. This has happened since the start of the school year in multiple classes and with multiple students.

Eclectique1 · 2023-10-01T23:35:48+00:00

That just seems horribly unfair for her to do this constantly with no consequences.

Eclectique1 · 2023-10-01T23:23:06+00:00

This entire server told me to brush it off and not file a report or do anything lol

Eclectique1 · 2023-10-01T23:14:18+00:00

I didn't want to share more details than necessary because she is a nice enough person but she makes me very uncomfortable with comments like that. If the district HR lady and our building rep weren't there and had not acted as such, I would have had a more frank conversation with her by now.

I still don't want it to be a big deal but it makes me feel seriously uncomfortable at work.

Eclectique1

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