Core Rugby at the UCSB-Rugby Academy Winter Camp 2009
Answering a second invitation this year from Kevin Battle - University of Califonia Santa Barbara's Director of Rugby- I spent the last week of 2009 coaching the UCSB and UC Academy players as a guest coach at their Winter Camp.
It was great to join the UCSB coaching staff for a few days, and also to work along the two New Zealand guests Jim Love and Darrel Shelford, both professional coaches of international reputation, former Maori All Blacks and directors of the New Zealand Sports Academy. NZSA ,a full time Rugby Academy is a partner of the Santa Barbara Rugby Academy. NZSA's international program offers the unique opportunity for US players to immerse themselves for several weeks to several months in a full time intensive Rugby training program in the world's most competitive Rugby environment.
The Santa Barbara Rugby Academy, created this year by Kevin Battle, is the first full-time Rugby Academy of its kind in the United States. Both the New Zealand Sports Academy and the Santa Barbara Rugby Academy are fertile grounds for High Performance training, and I am excited that both welcome the concepts of Core Rugby. I look forward to keep collaborating with both Academies in the near future.
Interestingly, the UCSB site was also shared by the USA HS All Americans and the USA U20 Rugby National teams for their winter camps, as well as Canada U17 and New Zealand Universities U21, providing additional points of reference for coaches and players alike.
In addition to the very productive time spent with all the players, I particularly enjoyed sharing coaching ideas and experiences. In good Rugby tradition, the evening social hours amongst coaches were also great fun!
